


calling all our skeletons

by glimmerFae (harmicist)



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Character Swap, Blackwatch Era, Deadlock Jesse McCree, Enemies to Lovers, Explicit Sexual Content, Feral Jesse McCree, Jesse McCree has knock-off SEP Juice in him, Jesse and Ashe have swapped places, Jesse is kind of a vampire/werewolf but not, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Overwatch Ashe, Pack Dynamics, Past Jesse McCree/Genji Shimada, Side Sojourn/Ashe, and current
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2020-07-31 06:50:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 52,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20110921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harmicist/pseuds/glimmerFae
Summary: When Gabriel Reyes had been a good man, he’d had a mission in Deadlock Gorge, and he had been supposed to give Jesse McCree a second chance in life.  He didn't.Gabriel Reyes had left Jesse McCree there, and Ana had taken 'Calamity' Ashe instead.Skeletons in the closet and unfinished business have ways of coming back to haunt people in their line of work.  The fact that the boy he left to rot was now the man with some of the only potential answers to the disease killing him is particularly ironic, though.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> What's popping. Just finished my last two stories, looking to publish old ideas from my folders. Will work on a smutty side story to the merman fic i just finished. But I had this idea for ages, its about time it got out to y'all.
> 
> I'm gonna have a sundays release schedule, n prolly like. Once every two weeks and perhaps once a week if I get really going. Lifes a bit busier rn. 
> 
> This chapter is covering the uh, bad blood in the water which is the set up for the rest of the story, so the actual chapters are gonna be a good bit longer than this chapter is.

When Gabriel Reyes had been a good man, he'd had a mission to Deadlock Gorge, Arizona, where the sun had been hot and the earth had been scorched and the only thing worse than what the omnics had done had been what the people had done to each other.

Deadlock, with its skull logo eating a lock, had once been the name of a motorcycle gang, established 1976. However, the crisis had put an end to that. No, the Deadlock that existed now had only inherited the logo and tried to puff themselves up as that, when they really had a far more sinister nature and younger history.

Gabriel Reyes, newly freed from the position of Strike Commander, had planned a mission to flush the gorge clean, their activity representing a major obstacle preventing the US government from completely reclaiming the American Southwest as civilized territory.

Files that had crossed his desk had criminal records, disciplinary records, police reports and official records of shipments that had been stolen from their rightful owners. They went into every nook and cranny of each and every member's life, into every detail of every crime they'd committed.

Deadlock had been a menace- a dark shadow hanging over the American Southwest. They were unlawful arms dealers, and they had a much bigger armory than anyone else in the US had any right to have. While his relationship with the US military had been strained since the end of his service there, it wasn't so strained as to believe that Deadlock had acquired their tools through the usual methods of sale.

Blackwatch had been perfect for the job, but it had still been young, and it's ranks were very thin. He'd used some of Overwatch's tools; the sharp eye of Ana Amari had been fundamental in the ops that took them down.

The bust had started smoothly, but had turned into an open shootout somewhere in the middle when Deadlock seemed to realize that this very well could be their last.

Overwatch's bird of prey, and one of his two best friend, had sat high atop her perch, and commented to Gabriel that there was a real glimmer of talent there- a diamond in the dust, or the blood, really. They'd heard stories, of course, during their months of careful set up, about one man who was better than the others there on every level.

Jesse McCree, 19, one of the four leaders of Deadlock, and allegedly the right hand man to the central position of authority, Elizabeth Caledonia "Calamity" Ashe. Reports said he used a six-shooter, to which Ana had called absolute bullshit every time out of habit. There wasn't any way possible to do the kinds of things McCree was supposedly doing, not with a six-shooter revolver.

She had continued to call bullshit until she'd seen him that day of the final shootout, atop that perch.

"_See if you can get that shooter_." Ana had advised him. "_I can teach people how to shoot a gun. You can't teach people how to do the impossible, and that **punk** is doing the impossible."_

"_Duly noted, then._" He'd said, calm, even, and willing to take her advice. Even though the punk was a menace, if Ana believed he'd be an asset, he was sure they could cut a deal. Blackwatch was to be secret anyways, and with Ana on his side of the argument,- for once- he was certain Jack would come around to the idea of a gang member wearing the logo.

Somewhere in the middle, a snake in the grass had launched herself at him. A young viper of a woman with a shock of white hair and blood red eyes the color of her anger and the blood she'd been responsible for spilling. Elizabeth Caledonia Ashe, "Calamity," had pointed her daddy's gun at his head in a fight she was never going to win.

He'd knocked it out of her hands with his bare hands, and had brought the fight to her instead of letting her have the ground she was trying to claim, the snake in the grass was less dangerous than the snake in the trees, but a snake in the open was a free kill.

When Gabriel Reyes had been a good man, he hadn't known that this was where the coin had flipped in the air.

Calamity was a good a fighter as her reputation claimed, but she wasn't much in the face of a genetically engineered super soldier. With the distance between the two of them closed, there was no way she was making it out of this one.

While they'd thought that Deadlock had had some ties to each other, at the end of the day they'd believed that they'd be easy enough to break, if enough pressure was put on them.

A panicked voice had shouted Ashe's name from across the room, and Deadlocks vulture dropped from his perch- the one that Ana had been eying, the one that Gabriel had planned on trying to recruit.

Jesse McCree had gotten between him and the calamity before him with a punch that only slightly hurt Gabriel's jaw. But the force of the blow, the amount of himself that Deadlock's sharpshooter had poured into the blow meant that the shot meant for the unrepentant woman before him, instead took out that diamond in the rough- the one who had come to her aid.

The coin proverbially had hit the floor tails up, as Jesse McCree's body took the force of the blast. He had gone still, half his face mutilated by the shotgun to the face. Blood had begun seeping out of each of the individual bullet holes that hadn't been cauterized from the heat of the blast, and the albino girl somehow became even more pale.

It just wasn't the type of blow someone got up from and walked off. It was the kind of wound that killed. The man was dead to rights if he hadn't already been dead, the eye that had been shot useless and bleeding and burned, and the body still on the floor. No more fight left in it. 

The sight of one of the central four going down, especially the one with the best ability to keep the fight going, was enough to scatter the rest of the pack like rats being exposed to fire. Thankfully, Blackwatch had been ready to snatch them all up and put the ones who hadn't been caught in traps in their metaphorical cages; ready to transport them to prison where they certainly had all deserved to go.

The body had been left in the fray of it all, and Ashe had been plucked from the nest instead. She'd been a good enough shot, and she'd been the one their first pick had chosen to lay down his life for. It wasn't all that hard to convince her to come on.

When Gabriel Reyes had been a good man, he'd had a mission in Deadlock Gorge, and he had been supposed to give Jesse McCree a second chance in life.

But Gabriel Reyes is a dying man now, Gabriel Reyes hasn't been a good man for a very long time, and Reaper definitely is not a good man.

The young man beneath him had breathed, had barely been still alive. One eye had met Gabriel's gaze, in dazed pain. It wasn't the type of injury you got up from and even if he had survived the initial blast, Gabriel had estimated that he wouldn't last much longer, that punk beneath his boots was bound to die in a pool of his own blood.

He had left him there, and Ana had taken in Ashe. The girl didn't have that same natural spark, no raw impossible talent that made her stand out, she wasn't able to do what McCree had been able to, but…she more than made up for it in her determination and collected demeanor that befit a sniper's apprentice.

Elsewhere, Jesse McCree had had his second chance in his death.

He'd picked himself off that forgotten sand and dust covered floor, out of his own sticky blood, and had been too stubborn to know how to die.

The man was a vulture, and he'd be ready to get revenge on the bastard who ruined his life. He had a long memory, and he wouldn't have to worry about taking the shot for anyone else, not anymore.

He'd do it alone if he had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope y'all enjoyed the lil intro. Come yell at me on twitter @harmicist if you'd like or drop a comment here, it really does make my day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, IK I had an extra sunday in ht emidle, but I was feeling Uber inspired for this story. NSFW warning for the first...quarter-middle of this chapter, and then it changes back to checking in on each character and how they've got to where they are now.

Days are short and the nights stretch out long and coldly over the people living in Overwatch's Zurich home base, talons of cold wind and ice digging into the doors and the walls and creeping up in the shadows and finding corners to settle in and drag down the mood of everything there. That is to say, winter's in full swing there, and it already has dragged on longer and was far worse than usual. The general air of the base is drab to go right along with it, and that doesn't help things.

A year and a half ago, he, Moira, Genji and Ashe had failed miserably in Venice at flushing Antonio out of the shadows and into the light of day. 8 months ago, Gerard's lovely wife had been kidnapped, and though she'd been found, not quite yet 7 months ago, he'd turned up dead in his own bed, and she'd been missing once more.

Shortly after that the crisis in London put Overwatch into panic mode, but had kept it unable to act until roughly 6 months ago, when Jack had decided to push in when stupid fuckin' Amari said something to his prized sniper she was trying to steal away into Overwatch following Venice.

And Ashe, dumb fuck Calamity Ashe had gone in alone to the warzone to give Overwatch the preface they needed to act.

Of course, Rein, Torb, Angela and the rookie were veritable heroes for their efforts, and Ashe was thankfully in one piece.

Four months ago, Ana had commemorated Ashe as a new Lieutenant in Overwatch proper, and she was about as proud as a woman with a reformed daughter could be, while Gabriel had only watched the ceremony from the TV. 

3 months ago, his condition, which he'd sought out Moira's treatment for in the first place, had taken a turn for the worse. And that meant that one month ago, with no funds left and a timer counting down on his head, Gabriel had joined Talon's payroll. Moira had joined shortly before, but swore that it was their paychecks that had her attention.

Last week, Genji had handed in his official paperwork to be transferred to Overwatch proper.

Somehow, in spite of how days are so short, things just seem to stretch out before him like the maw of some great animal ready to swallow him whole.

So, in short, Gabriel Reyes' life hasn't gone to plan of late, if he could have ever called anything in his life to plan. He's divorced, his kids don't talk to him, and he's had a midlife crisis over the fact that he's unequivocally attracted to one man in particular.

It was the very same one man as the one that he was having brutal arguments also was the one person who he wanted to just…kiss to shut him up. Regain any and all of that broken ground and just figure out a way to be young and friendly again, and not have all their arguments turn dark.

Jack Morrison.

He flips the cover of Moira's copy of Jack's SEP file to close it with his thumb, picks it up to look at the 76 o the other side of the folder, and then he tosses it into the garbage.

"No." He refuses, and Moira sighs.

She rubs her eyes with her forefinger and thumb before she looks at him flatly. "This disease will kill you, Reyes." She reminds, quiet. "And he's the only living person who has DNA that isn't falling apart. I can add your DNA to my own, but it makes me unstable, not you more stable."

"We cannot drag Jack into this." He coughs, black sludge dripping from his mouth, a typical annoyance that he wipes away with his thumb. "Jack doesn't need to worry about any more of my bullshit than he's already dealing with."

"Your daughter has this DNA." Moira says, huffing as she pulls Jack's folder out of the trash. "And your grandson tested positive for the gene as well. That was the last communication you received from them, yes?"

"Along with several legal documents, yeah." Reyes agrees, quiet. "Victoria's blaming me for Martha's death. Saying that somehow I exposed them all to dangerous amounts of poison, and led to her cervical cancer."

Moira snorts. "Imbeciles." She flips through the documents before handing Reyes a written report. "I've included the relevant write up proving that your…enhancements did no such thing to your wife. She carried the gene for that in her own DNA, you should remind her that you're _dying_ from this."

Gabriel rubs his temples and shakes his head. "She's just…mourning." He lowers his head. "She's allowed to be angry at me. I made my choice years ago, and _she's_ stuck with the effects."

"She's asking for you to cover _exorbitant_ costs, with funds you've never had." Moira disagrees, getting out Reyes' current treatment regardless, before preparing his injection site.

"As though this isn't exorbitant." Gabriel gestures to her and the needle in her hand. She rolls her eyes again.

"The number those bloodsucking lawyers attached to emotional damages _alone_ is absurd- she'd be better off taking it up with the US government." Moira grouses on his behalf, and Gabriel grunts out a mild agreement. "As is the child _endangerment_ charge she tried to throw at you. Thank god that the lawyer threw it out."

"She's grieving, and she's scared, for herself, for her kid." Gabriel shook his head, letting her inject him with his treatment. "And I'll take the blame like I always do, but I'll make it all right again."

Moira lets out an exasperated sigh, before she finishes the injection, and disposes of the needle in her container. "Right. Well, we have various amounts of information from Talon." She pulls out extra information. "There's a younger hacker who has performed some stellar work for Maximilian, allegedly going by Sombra."

Gabriel snorts. "A bit on the nose, don't you think?"

The taller woman gives him a long stare. "Ah, yes, the Reaper criticizing the Shadow." She politely reminds, and he shrugs, leaning back as she places more files on the desk. "More information about the upcoming Widowmaker project, additional facts about Dr. De Kuiper's imprisonment in the Netherlands, Vialli's arms deals in Europe…" She goes quiet; a rarity for her, and Gabriel decides to point that out.

"Huh, never thought I'd see something manage to leave you at a loss for words."

Moira looks up at him, her smile absolutely fiendish.

She hands him an otherwise typical looking file, and he takes it, suspicious, thumbs it open with some vague interest. If something's got her looking that pleased, it had to be new news about something relating to her genetics projects.

He's thrown back in time when he sees the Deadlock Rebels logo on one of the many files. Back to a time when things weren't entirely awful, and his life was in one piece instead of fractured into a million tiny ones.

"Deadlock's back?" He asks, sighing as he flips through the images with a growing sense of failure. Ashe would be disappointed to hear about that.

"Not that bit." She mutters, flipping back to the front page and pointing to the center of the page. "Read."

Gabriel raises an eyebrow at her, before adjusting in his seat and tilting his head to read. "We have reason to believe that…" He pauses, reading the sentence over again in his head. "Really?" He touches the sentence over and over again, feeling a growing sense of relief.

"Really." Moira agrees, preening at her discovery. "A knock off version of the serum." She mentions, delighted.

"In someone who doesn't matter." Gabriel agrees, falling back into his role as confident, easygoing commander. "Someone who won't be missed."

"Talon would _like_ to recruit the enhanced individual alive." Moira notes, careful. "But I see nothing as to a time frame they'd like the job completed."

"Ashe told me years ago that there were only two individuals in Deadlock that she gave any kind of credit two, one of whom is currently maintaining her estate in her name, and the other of whom is dead." Gabriel reassures, getting up, grabbing his Reaper mask. "Whatever happens to him…happens. Talon won't be worse off not having him, not after you harvest every last bit of information you can from him."

He slides on his mask, and slithers out of base, ready to get this man and drag him in, dead or alive.

XXXXX

Deadlock Gorge on historic route 66 is just as shitty and awful as he remembers it. There's dust, and pollution and grunge and all the signs of a mostly abandoned town, only existing on the very fringes of society, on the verge of extinction.

And yet, there are unfortunate signs of all of their analyst's careful work- that Deadlock was back- all around them.

The town was quieter than it was before the bust, but it was all pretty much identical to the way they left it. He rubs the canyon wall, spotting gunfire from the resulting gunfight as he rounds the corner to the old diner, prepared to gather information.

The cover from Talon was very simple.

He was here to ask about a bomb.

The diner's sliding doors open for him, and the place is decently quiet. There's a waitress and an omnic chef talking to each other, the waitress getting up and wiping her apron with a overly sweet smile being directed to him.

Gabriel waves a hand, sitting down at the bar quietly.

"Here for Deadlock." He breathes smoke out through his mask, and the poor girl swallows audibly.

"I'll…call him." She agrees before scurrying to the employee doors, as the chef disappears behind the kitchen doors.

He sits there in silence, the place just grungy enough to remind him that this place was a dying relic and should have vanished off the map years ago.

One of the side doors open, and spurs are overly loud as someone stomps up the staircase.

"Well," A rich masculine voice fills his chest and makes something shiver deep in his chest. "Marge told me there was someone here for business rather than a bite."

Reaper turns his face towards the voice, and a black hat blocks his view of his mark. "That'd be me." He rasps, standing from the barstool, the vinyl pulling against his leather irritatingly.

The man pauses, his smile fading after a moment, head tilting slowly.

"Oh?" He asks, voice a low rumble. "Is it?" The man walks forward, the energy radiating in the diner that threatened to overpower him. "And who do I have the pleasure of… workin' with, exactly." He drawled out his question, slow, purposeful, not unlike an animal circling it's prey, preparing for the kill.

There's something about him that shakes something in the back of Reyes' head, but he's focused on the mission first. This man could save him, his daughter and his grandson. Well, his body could. The wealth of information in his genetic composition. He knew for sure, based off the number inscribed on his jacket, below the deadlock logo, that this man was a natural continuation of the SEP's work. Likely some crackhead scientist eager to continue their work on some poor idiot soul, only aware of the power it could bring him, unaware of all the consequences.

"Talon sends their regards," Reaper purrs back, opening his arms and gesturing. "But…they've sent their Reaper for them."

"The Reaper, huh?" The other man considers that for a long moment, getting right in front of him, before he lifts his hat, showing off more than just his confident grin. "I seem to remember you workin' for someone very different," The man's face doesn't place at first, but the scars on the man's face tell a story that shoots through him like he'd thought the bullets had done, over a decade ago.

Jesse McCree's lone brown eye stares at him in a cool rage, his grin finally widening enough to reveal sharpened teeth that part to send chills down his spine, "Gabriel Reyes, showin' his face back here. Thinkin' I wouldn't recognize him. Or maybe he thought he could show up and not have me here at all. Maybe you thought you'd killed me."

Horror rocks him down to his core. "You're mistaken," He says, shaking his head firmly, prepared to lie even though he had no earthly idea of why the punk would recognize him with his get up on. "I'm not Gabriel Reye-."

Before he's able to finish putting his sentence together, the man has grabbed him at his throat and knocked him to the floor, straddling him. "Oh, don't try to lie to me, Gabriel." He taunts, choking Gabriel purposefully, thumbing his mask off, looking into his face. He leans forward, and inhales deeply, lone pupil nearly overpowering any and all iris in his eye. "I can smell ya. Smell your fear, your deodorant, what you ate for breakfast on the plane here from Europe. Smell the airplane, smell the snow from that fancy base in Zurich." Jesse growls, the sound deep in his throat and animalistic.

He pulls away, only slightly releasing the grip on Gabriel's neck to thumb over Gabriel's week old stubble on his cheek above his beard. "And I never forget a face, not when we have debts to settle."

"You just got in the way." Gabriel dismisses, using smoke to speak while his throat was choked down. "You were nothing to me, punk."

That gets a rise out of Jesse, and the younger man lifts Gabriel off the floor and drops him again. "Piece of _shit_." He snarls, the scars on his face giving him the distinct appearance of a battle hardened wolf. "Even if you didn't care, you did this to me, and I'm gonna make this _even_."

Gabriel took the moment before talons were pierced through his eye to smoke away. He reforms on his feet, and yet, Jesse doesn't even look surprised. He just stops his claws before they embed themselves into the floor, and sends him a feral grin.

"Cool party trick." Jesse tilts his head, standing. "Wanna see mine?"

Faster than Gabriel could comprehend, the mutt was at his throat again, pressing him into the wall, crushing him. "Now, that party trick of yours might have made what I really wanted difficult, honey." Jesse says, his voice silky and dripping with sickening sweetness. "But don't you worry, because I'll even out my score another way."

Teeth are suddenly in his throat, and Gabriel's scream is cut off with a sharp moan, his arms dropping to his sides uselessly, knees buckling. The only thing holding him up is Jesse's grip against his shoulders, and after a few long moments of biting him and sending stars into his vision, the man lets go.

Gabriel drops to his knees and ass, cock hard between his legs, mind blanked out by how good that felt, head leaning back against the wall as he reels from whatever the fuck Jesse just did. All the training in the world hadn't prepared him for _that, _and some distant part of him curses himself. He's drug resistant, so what the fuck could have knocked him off his feet like that.

Blood drips from Jesse's lips, and he rubs his mouth to clean off his face. "Wasn't so bad, was it?" He purrs, and stands over Gabriel, eye completely black and his expression overly confident. "Still think I'm nothin?"

Gabriel groans, and shudders, managing to gather his mind and form something like a coherent response. "_Fuck_ you." He says with all the anger he can manage with a raging hard on and overpowering heat coursing through him. "Jus'…some dumb punk." He snarls at McCree. "Some dumb punk who I only care about for his enhancements."

"Oh, honey, I'm _flattered_," McCree sarcastically rolls his eyes as he bends over and pulls him up by his collar. "I hope you'd care about my _enhancements_." He licks over the bite mark he just created, and Gabriel has to fight every instinct that clamors for him to _claim take what's his his __**his**_, his eyes rolling up into his head as his cock strains against his pants, and McCree whispers in his ear, teeth tantalizingly close to that sensitive spot Jesse discovered for him. "I was made for _you_."

McCree drops him, and he falls back against the wall, drunk on whatever McCree had pumped him full of. The man licks his lips, pacing as he looks at Gabriel calculatingly.

"Why are you here, Gabe," He asks, his voice too light considering the way he was circling him like a bird of prey, like the vulture he'd been before Gabriel had shot his eye.

"S'not Gabe to you, punk." He hisses, cock throbbing as his head is full with the overwhelming need to take, take, _take_ him. Jesse was right there, all for him, standing so tantalizingly close and yet, he was completely pinned down by the younger man's energy. "Do _something_," He snarls, bucking his hips up, knowing Jesse knew exactly what he was getting at.

"Doesn't answer my question." Jesse squats down, and palms Gabriel's crotch, sending chills up his spine. "Why're you here," He asks, and he freezes his hand, waiting for Gabriel's response.

"For you," He groans, honest. "Need your, fuck," He bucks his hips up, and Jesse begrudgingly starts to move his hand again, giving Gabriel much needed relief. "Need your fuckin' blood."

"My blood?" He cocks his head, fingers curled and stopped on the fly of Gabriel's pants.

"Don't stop," Gabriel bares his teeth threateningly, and Jesse chuckles. "Your fuckin', I need your goddamned blood." He repeats himself, hardly able to think past fucking Jesse over. "You're enhanced."

"Sure am," He agrees with a drawl and a twist of his wrist that brings down the fly of Gabe's pants. He whistles at the sight of Gabe's cock spilling out. "Free balling? Bold choice." Jesse leans over, and gives Gabriel a look so sinfully cocky that the man practically looked like he was a cat with a bowl of cream.

"You're enhanced," Gabriel groans, has trouble connecting the thought to what he needs to tell Jesse, the space between words sparking with pleasure as Jesse's hand works its way on his cock.

"You said that already, Reyes," Jesse sounds distinctly less amused, and stops. He can't even stop the whine that leaves his lips, but Jesse growls, eye dark as he waits for Gabriel to finish the thought. "What's so special about that that you need my blood. Ain't you enhanced? Ain't your boy Morrison also enhanced? Why do you need me?"

"Can't go to Morrison." He rasps, thrusting his hips into the air, desperate for any kind of friction while Jesse watches him thoughtfully. "But, I need healthy, enhanced, blood."

"Hm." Jesse crosses his arms. "Sounds like a personal problem." Gabriel whines again, his desperation mixing in with actual fear that Jesse won't just leave him undone like this and worse, will leave without him being able to get anything Moira could use.

"M' sick," He desperately paws at Jesse, the man snorting.

"I've known that for a _long_ time." He agrees. "Ever since you left me to die like that." Jesse sits there, lords over him, before he gives Gabriel a salacious grin.

"You fucked me over once, and now you're gonna do it again, make it fun for me." He twists his hand around Gabe's cock again, drawing out a long moan, the man bucking into the motion readily.

Gabriel's body is too focused on the heat of it all to get into the thick of things, but Jesse's helpful enough to hold him up by his hair as he pulls off his pants.

"Need, your help," Gabriel pants as he watches Jesse prep himself, the younger man spreading some lube he got from his pocket over his fingers, stretching his ass out without even looking at Gabriel.

"I can see that," He pokes Gabriel's hard cock at it's dripping tip, and Gabriel has to bite his lip as he shudders, oversensitive.

"No, I mean, yes, but, also, I, I need your blood. Because I'm sick." He babbles, and McCree looks at him in mid-preparation, unimpressed with the explanation when things had clearly turned hot and heavy.

"I ain't quite understandin' you, sugar," He flatly explains, and Gabriel groans as Jesse sits there, looking him over like he was deciding whether or not this was even worth it. It almost certainly wasn't but Gabriel's three year long dry spell was mostly over and he hadn't even cum yet.

"Lemme, lemme fuck you," He begs, rasps, smoke pouring out of him as his hands weakly grab Jesse's shirt, and Jesse straddles Gabriel, putting hands on his shoulders before cupping his head in his hands.

"Honey, you're _gonna_." Jesse agrees with a rough voice as his calloused hands cup Gabriel's face and turn his gaze up towards him. "But I'm in control. Not you. _Me_."

Jesse's almost reverent hold turns into a choke hold with one hand, and the other goes to Gabriel's cock angrily and holds it in place as he thrusts himself down, taking any power and control Gabriel still had as he shouts, arms wrapping around Jesse. His mouth opens up and he is helpless to his basest desires as he moans, the sound vulgar and only beat in obscenity by the sound of Jesse's ass slapping against his thighs.

Gabriel's moan is cut off when Jesse tightens his hold, the younger man glaring at him with righteous fury, but the expression is undercut by the grunts he makes fucking himself on Gabriel's cock. Gabriel's hands fist into Jesse's clothes, and his head leans forward as Jesse finally lets his neck go in order to grab Gabe by his hips and do the work for him.

His teeth feel sharp in his mouth, but as he puts his face in Jesse's neck and breathes, an overwhelming urge to return the favor comes over him, and he starts to mouth at Jesse's neck.

The other man grunts, and grabs his hair with lightning speed, pulling his face away from his neck.

"No." McCree growls in his ear, his annoyance belied by his panting. "_You_ don't get to do that."

Gabriel keens in needy disapproval, but McCree rolls his hips, and the urge is staved off by McCree's hand tugging his hair roughly and the way McCree's ass felt around his cock.

He'd be embarrassed to say he doesn't last beyond that, biting his lip to the point it bleeds, cumming into McCree with a gasping moan, eyes rolled up so far that his fluttering eyelids made it difficult to see.

McCree grunts, giving Gabriel an unimpressed look, his cock still hard between them, "Well, someone's eager," He grouses, shimmying his hips up off Gabe's cock and lifting himself with a wet pop. He gets to his knees, and puts his cock in Gabriel's face, holding him by his hair as he presses the head to Gabe's mouth. "It's polite to make sure I get off too," He says as he gives a soft push forward, softer than Gabriel probably deserves if the look on Jesse's face is anything to go by.

This clashes with something deep in Gabe's core. He's never sucked off another man's dick before. It stirs, and unsettles him. McCree stares down at him, clearly waiting for Gabriel to return the favor, and Gabriel stares back at him hazily.

"C'mon, big boy," Jesse encourages, the sound only slightly mocking. "Open up."

Gabriel obeys, letting Jesse slowly push into his mouth, the stretch unfamiliar to Gabriel. He works his lips around Jesse's cock, the man's grip on his hair tightening, curses flowing out of his lips like smoke and drool leak from Gabe's.

Jesse's shirt is still gripped tightly in his hands, but it suddenly rips as Gabriel's grip tightens while Jesse's cock presses down his throat, stretching Gabriel's mouth open. Gabriel's tongue works over the heated skin, and Jesse curses, tugging on Gabriel's hair, making his spent cock twitch between his legs. Gabriel likes it when he does that, so he sucks against the man's cockhead, feeling Jesse's core shake in his face, the man having to use one hand to brace himself against the wall while he fucks Gabe's mouth.

He isn't sure how long he spends like that, tearing Jesse's clothes off his back, along with clawing at Jesse's skin, jaw being fucked open, but Jesse finishes down his throat with a grunt, before pulling out of Gabe's sore mouth.

Gabriel can't even get himself to move, he's so warm and satisfied as he sits against the wall, legs sprawled in the double-u shape he fell in, head falling to the wall and his shoulder, his dick half-interested between his legs as his neck radiates warmth that isn't unlike the feeling of arousal in his cock.

Jesse stands, and shifts, pulling his pants back up, making a face at what was probably uncomfortable wetness leaking out of his ass. He unbuttons his shirt, removes the torn fabric and tosses it into the trash.

The man standing over him is cut like a statue, his abs firm and pecs defined as he looks at the shorn shirt with disdain, before turning his attention back to Gabriel.

"So," He drawls. "You're sick and you need my blood because I'm also enhanced."

Gabriel nods, glad that Jesse was able to get that much out of their discussion, coughing to try and find his voice, standing on sex-exhausted limbs.

Jesse seems to consider that for a moment, before giving Gabriel a slowly forming smile and a glint to his eye that read like malice. "No." He declines. "You left me to die. I'll do the same, with a, hm, reminder of me." He gestures to the mark on Gabriel's neck, easygoing cruelty pervading the entire gesture.

McCree lowers his hat on his face again, wraps his chest in the dark serape, and turns around, preparing to leave.

Gabriel is shell-shocked. "No." He refuses to believe that, finally getting to his knees, his limbs feeling like jello. "No, please."

"'Please' don't work around here, Commander Reyes," Jesse drawls. "Be grateful I ain't taking up your current line of work with Mister Morrison, 'cause I surely want to." Jesse threatens easily. "Now, get. Don't wanna see your face round these parts come sundown."

"I can't." Gabriel shakes his head. "Jesse, I need your blood."

"You don't get to call me Jesse," McCree hisses, looking back at him with sudden, crystal clear animosity. "In fact, I don't reckon you deserve to call me much of anything." He narrows his eyes before he relaxes, slightly. "It's just what you've earned yourself, Commander Reyes."

"It's not for me." He tries instead, remembering Ashe telling something a lifetime ago about how McCree was always such a protective older brother to her, how he wouldn't engage in cruelty to kids in any regard, how he'd taught her how to have a family. "It's for my family." He admits. "I gave them…I gave them this." He lowers his head in shame. "I wouldn't care if it was just me, I would but…I wouldn't be…this desperate."

McCree has gone still, and he almost thinks that McCree's going to tell him to go fuck himself, or something equally vulgar. "How old?" He asks, and Gabriel can hardly breathe from how fast he's ready to speak.

"My daughter is 23." He explains, obviously sad. "My grandson turns two in 4 months."

Jesse is quiet, obviously in thought. "Mm." He hums, uneasy. "And they both have…what you have."

"And what I have is killing me." He gives Jesse's back a pleading look. "I can't go to Morrison. I just, I thought that if… if there was someone else with the same enhancements, then I'd have answers."

"What were you really planning on doin," He asks, cocking his head. "Before you got caught red handed as the bastard you are. I wanna hear you say it."

"Talon wants to recruit you," He rasps, deciding honesty is what he needs to gain Jesse's trust here. "I just wanted your blood. I would kill you for it if I had to."

Jesse turns around, clearly not happy, but at least listening. "Right." He works the word around in his mouth. "You ain't never gave a damn about me, and y'ain't gonna start now." He mutters, crossing his arms across his chest. "What's the boy's name?"

"Miguel." He says, softly. "His mom, my daughter, she's…she's cut me out of their lives because of this." Gabriel shakes thinking of that. "I just…I don't care if I'm in it or not. I want to be, but…I'd be okay, just…_knowing_ he won't get sick like I'm sick."

Jesse narrows his eye, eyebrows furrowed, and he pops a cigar between his lips, lighting it casually, as though he didn't just fuck himself on Gabe, didn't just fuck Gabriel's lips, hadn't been prepared to leave him for dead in a shitty broken down diner in the middle of nowhere. "What do I get out of it, 'cause I sure as shit ain't planning on working for Talon."

"I'll give you…" He doesn't know what to give Jesse. "We can address payment afterwards."

"Nah, we're discussin' payment now, I reckon, if I'm gonna agree to this bullshit at all." Jesse shakes his head. "You're the one askin' me for help. You gotta pay me something I want."

Gabriel snarls. "I could just kill you, ingrate."

"Ya can't." Jesse disagrees, seeming all too pleased with himself. "Not anymore."

Immediately, as though spurred to do so by the very idea he might not be able to, Gabriel forms his gun in one hand, aiming it towards Jesse, and attempts to pull the trigger.

His finger refuses to do so. He has all the intent but as soon as it comes time to do so, his finger sticks, and refuses to move. Instead, he's stuck on his knees, and drops his gun.

"What did you do to me?"

Jesse doesn't even deny it. "You didn't notice, didja?" He chuckles. "All that that lil bite did."

"What did you _do_ to me?" Gabriel asks again, this time more urgent, recognizing something tender and warm and soft radiating out of him from an all-new weak spot on his neck, his hand rushing towards it and gripping it like he could rip it free from his neck.

"Like I said, _honey_," he drawls, the pet name faux sweet as he tilts his head, the man smirking smugly. "I _was_ made for you. I went ahead and made us pack." He purrs, low, in the back of his throat. "Now, you tried your damnedest to finish off proper marks," he admits, casual. "I stopped _that_ right in it's tracks, but…ya can't kill me Reyes. Hell, doubt you could even hurt me."

He lifts his gun, presses it to Reyes' head. "Now, if I wanted to get _even_, I certainly could. Wouldn't like it very much, but you're the one I marked, not the other way around." He lowers his gun, puts it back into its' holster.

Gabriel lets his gun vanish into the ether, and McCree whistles. "Aint you jus' full of tricks up your sleeve." He cocks his head. "But I really ain't all that interested in that. You know how you pay me back?" He asks, getting a gleam in his lone eye. "You let me have Calamity."

"No." Reyes disagrees, immediately. "She's not involved in any of this." He doesn't know what he'll do if McCree insists, but the man just sighs, rolls his eyes.

"Fine. She'll get to keep her cushy new life." He begrudgingly agrees, clearly never having thought Gabe would give her to him. "You'll delete all your information on Deadlock, and everything you've ever had on Jesse McCree." He says instead, more calculatingly. "Far as we're concerned after this, I never existed, and Deadlock doesn't either. Sound fair?"

It really doesn't, but Gabriel has few choices.

"Fine," He agrees, grinding that out. "Get into transport." He rasps, eyes turning a hateful red.

XXXXX

They aren't supposed to land in Zurich, but Jesse put his foot down mid flight that he wasn't going to Talon, and Gabriel couldn't turn him down, and now they're here, in the loading bay.

"You're going to be in and out." Gabriel whispers harshly, walking at a brisk pace through Blackwatch's mostly abandoned office space. "This is a mission solely meant for me to extract relevant DNA and then get you put back in Deadlock gorge."

Jesse nods understandingly. "I hear ya, I ain't planning on doing anything else." He folds his arms, getting off transport and peering around. He whistles, "It's a lot quieter than I expected it'd be."

"Things haven't been great here for recruitment for some time." Gabriel jokes, dark but honest. For the first time in a long time, there's no need to put up any front. Jesse McCree is a lone-eyed man, a testament to Gabriel's sins, his failures.

"Can't imagine why," Jesse picks up a pink slip off someone's desk, flops it in Gabe's direction, before he puts it back down on the desk after Gabriel tugs on him harshly through the doorway.

"What do you know?" He rumbles, voice dark and low. Hates how his business seems to have been aired out to the world.

"I keep up with the times." Jesse shrugs, feigning innocence. "When someone has a grudge on a man like you, Commander, they find ways to learn what they need to."

"You know, Elizabeth mourned you," Gabriel lowly growls, unimpressed with this man and his general attitude- that he's been wronged, and while Gabriel can accept that he left someone to die because he thought they weren't important (a decision he still stands by, he was just some 19 year old punk he'd brained with a shotgun, how was he supposed to guess the kid would be tough enough to pull through? Doesn't let himself think too hard about what was so different about McCree and Genji, when he'd been the one to see they were both still alive, hanging by a thread, brown eyes looking up at him with that same dazed, but desperate expression.)

Those seems to have been the magic words, because it shuts Jesse up altogether, his expression darkening, losing any and all signs of that relaxed swagger.

They arrive in silence to Moira's lab, and the woman opens her door before Gabriel can finish pinning in his key.

"Commander," She says, pleased, turning to his left and spotting their treasure trove of biological treasures. "And who else will I be working with?" She asks, voice smooth, if clinical.

"McCree." He extends a hand, and she takes it, shaking politely, if only for a moment.

"Right, McCree, please come inside, I need to take a round of samples." She ushers them both in, and Gabriel sits at Moira's desk rather than her table, for once.

Jesse stands there awkwardly, obviously uncomfortable as Moira did her preparations. "I'm assuming Commander Reyes briefed you on what he needs from you, yes?"

"He just said you needed my blood." Jesse looks away from the needle as she finishes cleaning the injection site, and Moira pauses.

"I'll need…" She purses her lips. "I'm afraid to tell you both that I need a bit more than blood, and I will not be done with him tonight."

"What?" Gabriel stands and Jesse curses, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"I would have thought you understood by now, Reyes, that this isn't exclusive to blood." She intones, unimpressed. "If it was just blood, I'd be able to give you transfusions and cure this without ever bringing in others. The SEP is embedded in every single part of you." She scoffs.

"I would think all you'd need is his genetic sample." Gabriel frowns, "So really, just a spit swab."

"I regretfully must tell you that it's not that simple." She rubs her temples. "McCree, I'd like to keep you around here for a few weeks at the minimum, in order to run various tests on both you and the commander, in order to compare them and for consistency."

If the way she bites her lip doesn't tell him that McCree's face is about as sour as his own, the man radiates his displeasure.

"Oh hell no," He stands, and Moira raises her hands.

"Please, McCree, sit back down," She tries to regain control of the situation, towering above them both, her hands up to placate. "I understand this is less than ideal, but I'm certain that our commander can make it worth the time." She gives him a pointed glare.

McCree looks away, irritated, and Gabriel sends Moira a exasperated look, eyebrows raised, asking her what the hell she was doing, making a promise like that.

"Can I see your kid's family?" McCree asks, bitter, and he pulls out his wallet instantly, fingering the photograph, looking at Victoria, her husband and their newborn infant's first Christmas. He hands it to McCree, and the man glances at it for a long hard second, before he hands it back.

"Fine. I'll stick around. But you're gonna pay me somehow. Either in money or materials, for the time you're borrowing." He points a finger, irritable. "And you ain't keeping me pinned down."

"You'll need civilian clearance." Moira comments, trying to be accommodating as she grabs her tools to get started on the blood draw. "Reyes unfortunately doesn't have clearance to do that on his own. You'll have to go to-…"

"I'll handle it." Gabriel cuts her off before Moira could give McCree any other information. "You're my problem." He points to McCree before he crosses his arms. "So I'll…figure out how to get you access. I'll set you up in the Blackwatch quarters for now; so don't… wander around, alright? The last thing I need is for someone to recognize you."

"You mean Calamity," Jesse drawls, breathing out a sharp breath as Moira sticks the needle into his arm, before relaxing again.

"She's not the only person who knows your face here." Gabriel warns. "There are several agents who were involved in the Deadlock bust who would recognize either the tattoo, or your face."

"Great, more idiots who ruined my life," McCree is tense as Moira draws blood, the man looking pointedly away from them both.

"You were a criminal and a scourge to the American Southwest- you needed to be stopped," Gabriel reminds, and Jesse gives him an unimpressed look.

"Pot, this is the kettle calling," He dryly remarks, and Gabriel scowls, Moira having to change a laugh into a sudden cough. "I don't think the Reaper, or any agent of Talon can give me any kinda moral judgment."

Silence prevails after that, until Moira finishes up and places a Band-Aid over the sterilized area of McCree's arm. "That will be enough to get me started." She puts the samples away, addresses them both. "I look forward to working with you McCree, I assume Commander Reyes will be the…connection for our work." She nods to him, before gesturing to the door. "Have a good night, sleep off the jet lag."

McCree looks at him with his lips flat and stretched as far as they can across his face, eyes tired but thinly hiding obvious distaste, and Gabriel rubs his temples.

"I'm not happy about this either." Gabriel tells him. "Just…come with me." He brings Jesse to the closest room that he knows for certain has been vacated permanently, unlocks it with his commander's access card.

Jesse pokes his head in, breathes out a short sigh with his nose. "Right." He raises an eyebrow to Gabriel. "Do I have a card to get around like yours?" He asks, and Gabriel shakes his head, making a face of obvious disbelief.

"No. Now go to bed. I'll get you tomorrow morning, we'll…_discuss_ how to go forward." He waves a hand, not quite certain with how they'd go forward, exactly, without alerting Overwatch, but…he'd have to find out somehow to do so.

He turns on his heel as soon as the door's closed behind Jesse, and heads to his office, knowing that tonight's just another long night with little sleep ahead of him.

XXXXX

At 3 AM local time, Jesse wakes up in a flurry of pillows, blankets in an unfamiliar place. He breathes in deep and recoils from doing so, because he's an idiot with a nose that worked every bit as well as a dog or cat nose. The room smelled, _tasted_ even, of metal and _anger_ and it makes his nose burn. He holds it tenderly, trying to protect it from the harsh scents, recovering from the nightmare as he comes back to where he was.

Jesse groans, and lies back down.

Right. He'd agreed to help commander asshole that shot his eye out because commander asshole had a sob story about his family. He scowls at himself, trying to glare a hole into the ceiling and failing. Reyes hadn't cared about his sob story when he'd left Jesse for dead, he reminds himself, and then blames his need to be petty for any wayward problems with executing his master plan.

He rubs his tongue over his teeth, cleaning away leftover venom from his teeth.

The fact he and Gabe were pack now- he makes a face at calling the man a nickname, even in his thoughts- makes this harder. He would be more inclined for softness, more inclined for… he rubs a hand over his face, thinking about his bad decisions. More inclined for things like how that afternoon had gone down.

Jesse suddenly feels the sex he and Gabe had had dripping unpleasantly, and forces himself to his feet to shower and clean himself out. If all this is a way to stop thinking of how he'd had another nightmare about his dead boyfriend Genji, no one else is around to ask.

The place he was in somehow reminded him of Genji, though it was nothing like his boyfriend. His boyfriend had been wild, lovable, a little shit, and a shame to the clan. Something that Genji always readily mocked, as he never had taken it seriously when his stick in the mud brother Hanzo had told him that his lifestyle, partying and being with Jesse, who'd certainly never be approved of by the clan.

This place was the polar opposite of everything Genji was- it was sterile, cold, and empty. The fullness of Genji's life, hell, Genji's old room with its pillows and blankets and video game and anime merch, makes this place look like the glorified prison it is.

Maybe the reason he's thinking so hard about his boyfriend is that this is the first time he's gotten _any_ since his death.

He gets into the shower, lets the water burn his skin, cleans himself off from his earlier mistakes, and steps back out, just to frown.

The room still feels like Genji. His heart feels heavy in his chest, and Jesse goes to the bed and lies down.

"I'm sorry," He speaks to the air, to the ghost hanging over him in the scent in his nose. "I'm sorry, Genji, it's been years, baby." He curls into the blankets, trying to hide himself from it. "It's been _years_ and you're gone. Didn't think you'd… mind, if I had a quickie."

The room doesn't answer him, and Jesse's unease forces him out of bed.

He walks until he's out of the room, and only once the door is shut is whatever ghostly piece of Genji done tormenting him.

He's fairly certain he can recall Gabriel telling him not to wander, but he's never listened to police types before, ain't gonna start now.

He wanders out of the darkened area and out to the light. There's a hallway that lets him peer out to Zurich, and a statue he recognizes as Jack Morrison in the window. Far more interesting is the snow that covers the outside, buries it all in softness that he knows would be brutal if he stepped outside.

Someone opens the door at the end of the hall minutes after Jesse did, and Jesse only gives the person a half a glance.

The form, all metal and outfitted with green lights, confuses him at first, before he settles on the explanation of 'omnic.' He turns his attention back out to the outside world, trying to calm his brain down, and focus on something aside from thinking his dead boyfriend was a ghost haunting him for getting dicked down by a dick.

The omnic is still at first, as though they're not sure what to do about him standing there.

"Sorry, jus' is pretty outside." Jesse says as he tries to seem nonthreatening, if that's the issue. The scars on that side of his face are pretty terrifying, he knows that. He doesn't look any kind of soft. "The stars and the snow, that is."

The omnic shifts, before they start walking again, and Jesse lowers his gaze to look at his hands, feeling them shake with the need for a smoke. He takes one good look at the smoke detector and the No Smoking sign, and thinks better of making that big of a fuss.

Jesse puts his hat down so that the rim covers his scars, and he walks the way the omnic went, to look for a place to get a proper smoke in.

XXXXX

Genji's crying behind his visor, but he hadn't even realized how hard that would hurt him until it happened. Now it has, and he's forced to come to terms with what else he chose to give up all those years ago.

_Years ago, when they were younger and he had been whole; a stranger had been in Hanamura, approaching them about business deals. Their father had turned him away; on the basis he'd been too young and was alone in an organization taken down by Overwatch. But Genji had found him staring out of the upstairs dining area of his favorite ramen shop, bundled up in warm clothes, staring in awe at the snow._

_He'd caught Genji staring at him, with his bandaged face and missing arm, and had given him an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, I know your dad uh, kicked me out." He rubs his neck. "I'll be gone tomorrow, the stars, and the uh, snow. It's just…really pretty out there."_

"_Bet there's not any snow where you come from cowboy." Genji said in smooth English, sitting in front of him._

"_There's not." Jesse agrees with a smile that slides from sheepish to genuine. "It's… well, it's a new experience."_

_Needless to say, Jesse doesn't go home the next day_.

"Genji!" Angela chirps as he runs into her office, before she realizes something is wrong, dropping whatever is in her hands to rush towards him. "Hey, Genji," She calls, softly getting off the visor, right as Genji chokes out a loud sob, "Genji, I need you to tell me what's wrong."

"Jesse," He manages to say while the machines in his body whirr and hum loudly in his distress, only compounding it. Angela has to stand there and struggle to calm him down, and eventually just settles on giving him a hug, holding him steady to ride him through the panic attack.

Long minutes pass, and Genji eventually isn't sobbing at the thought of Jesse with his one brown eye and support and warmness all snuffed out in that man that looked so similar to him, but older, colder, worn thin.

"So who's Jesse?" Angela asks, voice kind, but concerned. It's been a long time since Genji had a meltdown to this scale, and yet he'd be irritated at the question if anyone aside from Angela had asked.

"Jesse is my …" A cold hand wraps around his heart, reminds him of his decisions. "My _ex_ boyfriend," He says the ex like a dirty word, and Angela is there, calmly across from him. "We dated for…ages. We didn't…" He chokes on that. "We didn't break up. I just…never told him I'd survived. But he's here, on base, and… he didn't recognize me."

Angela looks concerned, and then her concern shifts into shock, and into sadness. She sits next to Genji, and wraps an arm around his side, quiet as she rubs his side reassuringly.

"Oh, Genji, well…" She clearly doesn't know how to express her emotions in a constructive way for him. "Have you ever…talked to anyone about Jesse?"

Genji shakes his head, rubbing his eyes. "No. I… Well, I didn't want people going after him. He's not a fan of Overwatch, and he ran in…ran in other circles," He eventually explains. Angela looks like she wants to disapprove, but Genji holds up his hands. "He wasn't bad, Dr. Ziegler. Just…he had his reasons. He was handsome, though, and meant a lot to me."

He looks up his old social media accounts, never taken down because his aunts and uncles hadn't cared too, and pulls up the first picture he spots.

It hurts him deeply to see himself, so he zooms in before he has to look too long at back when he looked… good. Human. Happy.

A man who looked both exactly like and incredibly different from the one in the hallway looking on at the statue of the strike commander smiles at the camera, warm and very much in love. Genji can recall that the next moment after this photo was taken, Jesse had kissed him and they'd nearly broken their camera.

He's so lost in looking back on Jesse that he doesn't notice that Angela hasn't said anything, and once he does he makes a face. "Don't judge my taste in men," He jabs at her, a cross between playful and warning. He knows Jesse looks…rough around the edges, but it was his heart that had spoken to Genji.

"No, no," She shakes her head, taking out her phone. "I…fuck, I recognize his face." She mutters, before pointing to the tattoo on his arm. "Do you have a shot of that?"

Genji raises an eyebrow, and scrolls through his social media, finding a better shot of Jesse, in a red swimsuit with an awful blonde dye job, looking tan, lean and happy to be appreciated by Genji and his friends. His tattoo says Deadlock Rebels on it, and it's in plain sight.

"Oh, fuck," Angela curses, and Genji blinks at that. She dials a number, and speaks quickly. "Sojourn, I'm so sorry to call you this late, but I need you to go into Ashe's wallet."

Genji can't hear whatever Sojourn says back, but Angela rolls her eyes. "I know she's in your office, just…find the picture in her wallet. The one with her long hair and her best friend." She waits a minute, before nodding. "Yes, text that to me please."

"I have to admit, I don't know what's going on," Genji is quiet, trying to make sense of this. "I've never heard you curse before, Angela."

She blushes, before coughing. "Well, back when I dated Ashe," She rolls her hand backwards, giving a sheepish smile. "She sometimes talked about her best friend, or another leader in her gang. At the time, that was all… top secret, and I was just an intern for Overwatch. The only people who could know the details were Captain Amari and Commander Reyes. But she had this picture of him in her wallet, and he looked just like…that. And her tattoo looks _exactly_ like his."

There's a notification on her phone and Angela goes to open it. Genji puts a hand on hers, and clears his throat.

"Alright, but why does this matter, they could be the same person. I knew that Overwatch had run a mission against his organization when I started dating him."

Angela looks sad, before she decides to speak. "Because, Genji, if this man's who I think he is, you're not the only person who hasn't told someone important you survived, and he's _here_, on base."

She pulls her hand out of his and he lets her open up the phone.

Jesse's face, full and young and filled with an air of a rascal getting into trouble grinned at the camera, across from Ashe and a robot Genji only vaguely recognized as belonging to Ashe.

Angela bites her lip, and Genji rubs his neck, only making a small face when the metal rubs wrong against itself.

"Fuck." He says, and Angela rubs her hand over her mouth, trying to find the right words for this.

Angela's door knocks, and Sojourn pokes her head in. "Hey, I won't comment on the fact you're calling me out for my girlfriend staying the night, but…" Sojourn's voice cuts off as she sees the image left on Angela's screen, of Jesse standing there, alive and well, with one eye missing.

"Well, that looks bad." She rubs a hand over the back of her hair, shifts from side to side. "That's Jesse McCree," She announces, with a sureness that makes Genji's gut sink. "Why's he all over Shimada in that shot?'

"He was my boyfriend," Genji explains, quietly. "I've known him since…well, since I was probably 19 or so."

"That would make him…21 years old." Sojourn does the mental math. "Two years after the Deadlock bust that did that to him." She gestures to her eye, before she crosses her arms, concerned, biting her lip. "Ashe has told me she watched him die."

Angela fidgets. "She might have mentioned to me, something about watching Commander Reyes fire a shotgun into her best friends face."

"Commander Reyes is the one who shot Jesse's eye out?" Genji asks, anger for his boyfriend-not boyfriend boiling in his stomach. All of a sudden, he recalls Ashe and Reyes going at each other like cats and dogs.

_"I'd tell you this ain't how we do it," She yells, fighting some Talon mook in Venice, Genji feeling awkward for eavesdropping on this intimate conversation. "But to me it just looks like a return to bad habits!"_

"_I never __**meant**__ to shoot him," Gabriel defends. "He was the one we wanted, but he jumped in the way of my gun, took a shot for you. This is completely different- Antonio got what he deserved, Ashe, you know that!"_

"_Next time you're gonna tell me that you meant to recruit __**Antonio**__!" She shrilly comments, throwing a round of dynamite into a clump of enforcers, shooting it with precision and setting them on fire._

He also remembers Jesse first taking off the bandages around his missing eye, the scars there, and can see how that was a shotgun blast. Wonders how it didn't kill him, or leave him permanently damaged in a more serious way.

He also wonders why he's here, now, when this place is full of the ghosts who'd hurt him in the first place.

Sojourn puts a hand over her mouth as she thinks it over, before a pale set of hands wraps around her middle sleepily. The entire room freezes, and Sojourn especially looks a bit worried about what is about to go down.

"Finally, you're _done_." Ashe says with dramatic relief. "Come to bed, babe," She murmurs, and puts her head over Sojourn's shoulder, peeks into the room and gives Angela a knowing look, her eyes casually gazing over the room before she settles on the picture on Angela's computer screen.

Red eyes widen, slowly, obviously putting the pieces together, face unmade with her makeup all wiped off, before the older woman pushes Sojourn aside, goes up to the computer, and looks at the picture long and hard.

"Son of a bitch," Ashe says, grabbing her viper off her back. "I'm killing Commander Reyes, that lying son of a _fucking_ bitch."

"_NO," _Sojourn and Angela move together to stop Ashe, but Genji is nodding his agreement and slipping out his shurikens.

"I agree, let's do it together," He says, to Angela's horror.

"No! No one is killing anyone over this." Angela disagrees, putting her hands up to stop Genji now. "Ashe, why are you starting this, exactly?"

"Because," She rubs Viper, only giving Sojourn an eye roll when the woman tries to take it from her. "Commander Reyes shot him, stood over him, and told me with utmost confidence that he'd killed the only family I'd cared about until that point." She looks at Genji. "Shimada, can you tell me, is Jesse McCree dead?"

"He definitely isn't." He agrees, calmly. "He showed up in Hanamura months after the Deadlock bust. Had scars all over his face, and was missing an eye, but was, and is, definitely alive."

"Meaning Gabriel Reyes, our former commander, who is infamous for telling us to confirm the kill, _lied_." Ashe finishes, anger radiating out of her. "And he left Jesse McCree, the only man I'd ever consider to be my family, to _die_."

"Jesse McCree is _here_," Angela tells Ashe, and that stops her in her tracks.

"He…he's here?" Ashe asks, her confidence and sureness suddenly draining from his system.

Genji hesitates, before explaining. "He's…on base." He acknowledges, dipping his head. "I saw him and…remembered a better life. But he doesn't know I'm alive."

Ashe puts a hand over her face. "How did he even get here?" She asks, thinking that over in her head before she frowns. "Fucking Reyes." She curses. "If this wasn't run by me, then Jesse didn't get here through Ana, meaning Jack definitely had nothing to do with it. And there's only one other person with the power to get him."

"He's been shut down though, babe." Sojourn reminds. "If the strike commander finds out Gabriel recruited a new member of Blackwatch, he's going to lose his shit."

"Like that has stopped Reyes before." Ashe gestures wildly. "All I know is that the man who was basically my _world_ at one point is on base, after I thought he's been dead for the past decade, and he thought that I left him for dead." She puts Viper on her back. "Shimada, take me to him."

"No," Sojourn puts her hands on Ashe's shoulders, shaking her head sympathetically. "Listen to yourself, Ashe, I know you want to see him, but…you've changed, a _lot_ from back then- both Angela and I have known you that whole time." Sojourn turns to Angela for back up, and the blond woman nods her head empathetically.

"So much." She agrees, biting her lip. "At least…wait until morning, Lizzy." She tries, and Ashe groans, leaning against Sojourn.

"My name isn't Lizzy, Angela." She reminds, and Angela gives her a smile.

"I know, Ashe." She puts a hand on her shoulder, giving Ashe a critical, but caring look. "But you know I care about you. This isn't what you need right now. Not at one in the morning. Now, to bed, all of you." She points her finger at Sojourn, Ashe, and Genji in turn. "We'll bring it up with Commander Reyes in the morning."

Ashe groans and runs a hand down her face, before she relents. "Alright. But we're taking this up with Amari first thing and bringing Reyes down." She warns, and Sojourn pats her shoulder, giving her a soft kiss before the two walk off in the direction of Sojourn's quarters.

Angela puts a reassuring hand on Genji's shoulder, and nods. "You too, alright?" She kisses his cheek goodnight. "Now, head to bed. I get the feeling it'll take you longer than usual to fall asleep, but…try."

His heart aches, but he hugs Angela back, leaning into her affection. "I will," He promises, and he means it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOW you can probably expect two weeks before the next chapter, unless I get super lucky and have another bout of incredible inspiration. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, come bug me on twitter or talk 2 me about this fic in a comment! Makes my day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> u kno im not really happy with the title, but dunno what to do with it. Sorry its been so long since the last update, moving combined with bureaucracy and now moving back made it a bit difficult. I hope it was worth the wait!!

Morning comes unkindly. It usually did, but that doesn't mean that Jesse didn't make a face when sunlight decided to piss directly on his line of sight. He sits up and rubs his face, finding himself in unfamiliar surroundings before he abruptly recalls his series of bad decisions that culminated in him being in the den of his enemies.

"McCree," Reyes' voice calls sharply, black smoke rounding the corner to find him in the forgotten cubicle of Blackwatch's empty offices. Jesse levels the man with an unimpressed look, gesturing to the curtain.

"Wait, _before_ you chew me out, have the common courtesy to close that, will you?" He drawls, mouth dry- he'd likely spent the night with his mouth open, he realizes belatedly, rubbing his sore jaw.

Gabriel looks back in confusion, before his expression sours, turning on Jesse with his arms crossing in obvious frustration. "You weren't supposed to leave your room."

"And you were supposed to check the body to make sure you got the kill." His lips go up in a thin-lipped smile as he squints up at the man, the sun in his eye. "Never mind how I'm fairly certain I can give a whole list of things you aren't supposed to be doing as Commander Reyes while you're dressed up in that mask from last night."

"That is for me to deal with." Gabriel growls, eyes turning red in warning.

"Jus' saying," Jesse shrugs, "It'd be easier to listen to someone who actually followed any of their own rules."

"You were spotted by Overwatch agents." Gabriel lashes back. "That has created a mild commotion in their ranks, and the entire point was to try and keep you under wraps."

"Well, sorry," He places a hand over his heart in faux apology. "Didn't mean to cause you no problems, boss."

"I'm not your boss." Gabriel immediately rebukes, rolling his eyes. "Get off the floor. I'm handling this now. You're a…_civilian _consultant only." He pokes Jesse's chest as the man slowly stands, and Jesse has to hold all of his instincts in to stop him from punching the man's lights out.

"Don't touch me." Jesse snarls, and Gabriel's red eyes cool to stare him down.

"It'd be so much easier to listen to someone who actually followed their own rules." Gabriel mimics in a high-pitched tone, while Jesse simmered in his hate.

With Jesse upright, brushing himself off, Gabriel turns on his heel and sharply makes a beeline to where Jesse had walked himself in the night before, living off the ghostly hands of his nightmare.

"You're not to tell Ana any of the real reasons why you're here. You will agree with everything I say to her about your real purpose here." He breathes in, and then out- before he drops the bomb. "You will _pretend_ to have amnesia." He says, and Jesse raises his eyebrows in disbelief.

"So you want me to pretend like I can't remember a damn thing about you?" He asks, and Gabriel nods.

"That's easier to understand than, 'Hey, Ana, I found myself an SEP knockoff walking around. Don't ask why he's willing to work with me if he knows who I am'." He folds his arms. "I thought on this carefully. This means you have the least likely chance of running into Calamity while you're here."

"This _Ana_ got a soft spot for her or somethin'?" Jesse figures, and Gabriel's lips thin.

"Something," He agrees, hesitant with his wording.

Jesse doesn't comment on that with anything beyond an unsatisfied frown. "Fine. I'll play dumb." His face sours at the very idea of it, but he really, truly wants to get this over with with as few problems as possible.

"This is for your sake as well." Reyes says, and the look in his eyes tells Jesse it wasn't just for his sake- there was a selfish reason behind this. If Jesse opened a more serious line of questioning from Ana, he had a feeling Gabriel would be in considerable hot water. "Now, if I wasn't there for you for your genes, what might I want from you?"

"Bombs." He clicks the word out. "Naturally. We're still a considerably sized arms dealer."

"If you don't remember us, how are you still an arms dealer," Reyes points out, and Jesse rolls his eyes.

"C'mon, you ain't that stupid. That town is dead. How would I have left that town? Surviving that prolly put me in a shit ton of debt, and with nothing to my name but a reputation and connections who'd put me back on the path, how could I become anything but?"

Reyes goes quiet, seeming suddenly, shockingly cowed.

They finish their walk to Ana's office. "I'll take the lead on this, got it? Just… try not to look too suspicious, just play dumb and keep quiet." He manages, and pushes the door open.

"Captain Amari." Reyes says with his tone as accommodating as Jesse had ever heard it. A man of many masks, apparently, but he doesn't comment.

"Commander Reyes," She says, disapproving, expression heavy. Her grey hair gave away her stress and the effect that had her over time, but Jesse had to admit that she must have been a real looker back in the day. "I was just about to contact you myself."

"No need." He pulls Jesse in and Jesse curses at the roughness of the gesture.

"Do you mind?" He snaps, and Gabriel gives him a warning glare. _Behave_, it said with blood red violence just lying beneath the surface of that visage.

"I realized that my consultant didn't listen to me when I told him to stay put, and after checking the CCTV, realized he ran into some of your agents." He explained, apologetic, putting his hands up as though to say, _mea culpa_.

"Consultant?" Ana asks, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. "An interesting name for him."

"He's not an agent, and I have no intentions of making him one." He defends himself with a hand over his chest. "I brought him in because…" He leans forward, deathly serious. "Talon's in the market for a bomb, and they were looking at making one with Deadlock."

Ana looks at Jesse, and back to Reyes. "With Deadlock." She asks, lips thinning in displeasure.

Gabriel nods. "I'll need to speak to you regarding the…particulars, but he'll be in and out within a few weeks."

"We'll be speaking alright." Ana firmly agreed. "And there will be a long conversation with Commander Morrison about this." She put her hands across her desk and folded them neatly.

"Until then, it's a pleasure to meet you, mister…?" She feigns ignorance, and Jesse follows.

"McCree, but please, call me Jesse, ma'am. Commander Reyes told me I'd be meeting you today, Captain Amari." He gives her a charming smile.

Ana has to conceal her surprise, something neither Jesse nor Gabriel miss. "My, finally he's found a polite one." She remarks. "What can you tell me that Commander Reyes has found so interesting, Jesse?"

He makes a face. "The other day, in Deadlock gorge, I was approached by the Reaper." He quietly told her, and Gabriel tensed next to him, before relaxing.

Ana's expression widens. "The Reaper?" She breathes, leaning back. "We've known of his threat, but we've never pinned him to Talon." She explains.

"He wasn't exactly working with them." He rubs his neck. "He was just…playing messenger boy, I reckon. Told me that Talon was interested in setting up a meeting."

"Did you go to this meeting?" She asks, maintaining her composure.

"I did not." He shakes his head. "I've never been one to want to work with…an organization that'll want to put strings on me. I was approached by commander Reyes about my activities, and he asked if I had been contacted by Talon. Having no reason to not want to work with him on it, if he's willing to cut me a break…" He gives her a knowing grin. "The way he seems to be able to."

"Then you're willing to work with him." Ana agrees, displeased. "Well, I cannot say that the information isn't welcome, considering we've lost all recent leads on Talon activity, but…I can't say that this won't need to be discussed further with Commander Morrison." She gives Reyes a pointed look. "McCree, you're a civilian on base, meaning I can grant you access to certain locations." She pulls out a card from her desk and starts to do something on her computer. "I expect you to follow the rules around here, if nothing else." She places the card down on a device on her desk, leaning back. The device beeps, she picks up the card and hands it to him. "Don't lose this. It's your access through the places around here." She hands him a lanyard as well. "Don't go getting lost, and try to stick to areas that Commander Reyes has already shown you."

Jesse places the lanyard around his neck, looking down at the 'Civilian Pass,' written on the card in front, before he pockets the card. "Will do, ma'am." He agrees, standing.

"You're dismissed." She says. "Go get something to eat." She waves him out, and McCree looks at Gabriel, before looking back to her, and nods. "Alright."

He heads out the door, breathing out a sigh of relief that she'd been so easy to lie to.

Then again, Reyes was living his double life, so perhaps the people around here were just blind to things they didn't want to see.

XXXXX

"So, Jesse McCree." Ana says, voice heavy with disapproval as her head swivels around to pin him with a very unimpressed look. "He lived through your encounter."

"I was hoping you'd forgotten about that." He admits, quiet. "I really didn't want his name being thrown around base, because I know, all too well, that Ashe would never."

"You said he died." Ana sharply interrupts him. "You said you had looked at him and confirmed that your shotgun blast killed him."

"He was shot in the _eye_, Ana, point blank." Gabriel gestures wildly. "We both saw him go down. You saw how he came in today. Half his face is scar tissue."

Ana folds her arms, her eyes looking down. "I did see that." She agrees, quiet. "But seeing him drop isn't the same as ensuring he was a clean kill. Did you see that he was dead? Did you actually check his heart beat?"

Gabriel swallows, and Ana sucks in a deep breath. "You didn't." She leans back, putting one hand on her face, and trying to think through it.

"I…I actually saw that…" He swallows carefully. "I saw that he was still breathing, but _Ana, _you saw the shot. You couldn't have thought that he would pull through, even if he had survived it."

"You _saw_ he was alive?" Ana stands in shock, looking at him in bewilderment, shock, quickly turning into something like queasiness.

"We killed so many people that day, and we both _knew_ that surviving that should have been impossible." Gabriel defends, knowing his past actions were justifiable and just part of the every day sludge of Blackwatch. It was only now, with hindsight, that the details painted him in a different light. "We just thought Ashe was some punk back then, and hell, I have no clue how he managed to pull through." He runs a hand through his hair. "I genuinely don't have any clues. Neither does he."

"He doesn't know, does he?" She asks, quiet.

"From what I can tell, no." Gabriel lies through his teeth, his performance feeling too close to real, even to him. "Doesn't remember the bust. Has pretty severe amnesia. Deadlock's remnants put him back together, but…I don't even know if he knows who Ashe is. Or about anything that happened with us." He gravely tells her. "I don't know how to tell that to Ashe."

"It was actually Ashe that brought this matter to me." Ana tells him quietly. "She already knows he's here and has been trying to find out where you've stashed him."

"Wait, it was Genji who saw him on the CCTV, though." Gabriel voices his confusion, gears working in his head, and Ana looked similarly confused at his interruption.

"Ashe never mentioned that to me…" She puts a hand to her face, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Why would Genji go to Ashe and Sojourn about him before coming to myself…"

Gabriel doesn't have an answer, and she puts her hands down. "I'll discuss the matter with him later." She murmurs, standing. "Thank you for coming to me to clear this up first thing, though it would still have been preferable for you to have come to us _beforehand_." Ana sternly reminds him. "We'll call you in when commander Morrison has time, Gabriel. Ashe might want to sit on this, so be ready to hear it from her." She shook her head, sighing.

"I can't believe you left him there alive." She says, her disgust not even trying to be disguised.

"I couldn't have imagined he'd survive Ana." Gabriel reminds her, honest. "He was alive in that moment, but back then, we didn't have Angela, and he'd been shot through the eye." He goes quiet. "If we had taken him, we couldn't have taken Ashe too. It would have been too many resources for two gang members. The UN already wasn't crazy about just Ashe…let alone someone who, for all intents and purposes, wasn't going to last the hour. Would you have done different?"

Ana doesn't know how to answer, and Gabriel thinks that's fair.

It's hard to imagine how different her life would have been if Ashe hadn't joined her little family, finally gotten everything she'd supposedly wanted her whole life, become the big sister Fareeha dearly loved and another daughter Ana taught all she knew to.

Then again, it wasn't like Jesse McCree wouldn't have cared about Fareeha. He can picture all too well, in the back of his mind, the way Jesse had stared intently at the image of his daughter and her son before agreeing to stay, agreeing to help. He can tell that the man cares about kids, recalls Ashe saying he'd been the one to teach her how to braid hair.

"How is Ms. Victoria?" Ana asks, and Gabriel chokes up on his guilt, surprised by the change in conversation- to something he doesn't have to hide from Ana.

"She's still not talking to me." He quietly tells her, and Ana sucks in a breath, nodding measured sympathy.

"She'll come around," Ana soothes, careful- neither of them being particularly good at this piece of…_love_, even though they both loved strongly, and deeply, they kept their affections cooled, showed it through their actions. "You're her father."

"She's just grieving." Gabriel agrees, voice wet, trying to hide that that particular topic was one that cut deeper than Ana could know. "And it's not like…me being her father is any good right now. It's…debatably pretty bad to be related to me." More so than Ana could ever know.

"We'll talk more later, Gabriel." She puts a hand on his. "We're here for you, even when we disagree on work matters. She'll come around. The only reason she's this hurt is because she loves you."

He apologizes in his head for everything he was doing behind her back, behind Jack's back, and sees himself out.

XXXXX

For as concerned as Gabriel had been over his apparently super recognizable face, not a single soul approaches him as he wanders into what essentially amounts to a cafeteria. They can call it a dining area on the sides of the walls all they wanted, but Jesse wasn't going to call a spade anything but a spade.

Then again, he'd had the mind to switch his prosthetic out for the missing arm and leave the cowboy hat in his room with it, so there was no worry about folks recognizing the deadlock tattoo. And no one really wanted to be caught staring at his face too close, for fear of looking like an asshole.

The hair on the back of his neck suddenly stands up, and he looks around for whoever was triggering that.

The omnic he saw last night stands across the room, green visor focused awful intently on him, but apart from that, no one else seemed to care he was there. The ticket around his neck was his key to moving around invisibly.

He shoots an awkward smile at his silent watcher, only for the omnic to vanish in the next flux of the crowd.

Jesse's smile drops, and he allows himself to glare at the spot the omnic had been just a minute ago. There's not any need for those kinds of dramatics, he thinks as he rubs his neck.

He saddles up to the staff working behind the counters, and flashes his most accommodating smile. "Sorry, I'm new 'round here, I'm afraid I don't have credits on me." He places a hand over his chest and gives the woman a wink, and she giggles at his formalities.

"No worries." The young woman explains, waving a hand. "You've got the civilian pass, which is charged with meals on it." She points to his chest, and he fiddles with it thoughtfully. "We're open from 8am until 9pm, Mr. McCree. Don't lose that card; it's your key to getting around this base without any problems. Loretta lost hers last week, and she had to go through a serious amount of hassle to get hers back."

A slightly younger looking woman gives his server a vicious glare, and he assumes that must be Loretta.

"Thank you kindly." He rumbles, tilting his head forward as he gives her another lingering smile, before walking off with his meal, heading to the checkout counter.

Honestly, he hated cafeterias, and more broadly, Europe for one key reason- the sheer amount of folks with perfumes on. The gunpowder smell on some people was drowned out by the sheer amount of people who apparently had never picked up a gun in their lives.

The main downside to having a nose this good was that he knew everyone's business. And it gave him a real headache. He was already planning his escape from the area, shoving the food into his pack, when a blonde dressed in slacks and a black turtleneck cuts him in line.

He places his lunch down, and then his hand on the interloper's back, smile thin, just like his patience. "Whoa there, hold your horses, there's no rush." He draws the words out in a low rumble, trying not to cause a scene, but just…tell this fucker he'd not tolerate this kinda bullshit.

The man stands straighter, turning around carefully, expression perplexed. "Excuse me?" He says, brow furrowed as though trying to figure out what it was Jesse was saying.

His hand drops off the man's shoulder to grab his stuff again. "Do ya mind? I was in line before you rushed in."

The blonde closes his eyes and shakes his head as though mentally resetting, opening bright blue eyes wide as he speaks. "I'm sorry, I don't think you know who I am."

Jesse looks the man up and down, before raising his eyebrows. "A handsome guy who works here but cut me?"

The man laughs, rubbing his neck. "You're lucky you're cute." He warns, but there's no bite to the words. "Did you walk off the set of a western?"

"Just the natural accent- comes with where I'm from." Jesse smoothly replies, walking back in front of the blond. "You gonna tell me who you are or ya gonna keep making me look like an ass?"

The man laughs again, as though the very idea of someone not knowing who he is was…wild. That sent mild alarm bells off in Jesse's head, but he keeps on his charming smile. "Jack." He introduces, holding out a hand. Jesse looks to it, before looking back up at him.

"I'd shake that, if I had a hand." He drawls. "Unfortunately, I'm doing repairs on my prosthetic."

Jack looks down only to see this, and turns a bit pink. "Oh." Is all he has to say for himself, and Jesse snorts.

"You're lucky you're cute, Blondie." He teases mildly, and Jack reddens further. "But, the name's Jesse. Pleasure to meet ya, Jack."

The staff let them walk through unhindered, and that just confirms to Jesse he'd accidentally approached someone Gabriel would be deeply unhappy with him for. That thought kind of just spurred him on, so he decided to up the charm.

"Reckon that not many people fail to recognize you."

"You're the first in a long time." Jack admits, snickering. "But…it's not a bad thing. Makes dating hard."

"That's bold." Jesse remarks, and Jack chokes.

"I wasn't…" He defends himself preemptively.

Jesse shrugs, giving him a smile. "No worries. Just teasing."

"It's been a while." Jack says, shaky.

"I can tell." Jesse calmly says, before Jack blows out a self-deprecating chuckle through his nose while he raises his drink to his lips. "I wouldn't say no, though." He casually puts out there, making Jack choke. "Wasn't kidding 'bout the handsome comment."

"Oh." Jack rubs his neck and shoots Jesse a blinding smile. He usually didn't really have a thing for hero types like this, but there was something charming about the way he bumbled around the casual flirtation, that Jesse was at least willing to lean into it some. He was here, might as well enjoy what the place had to offer him.

The two of them walk through the cafeteria, and that means that as they leave the sea of scents, all of a sudden, Jesse's nose clears.

His head tilts after he gets a good whiff, and very suddenly, very clearly, he thinks to himself, '_Oh, shit.' _This was the _other_ enhanced person on base…meaning, even though he'd failed to place the face, this Jack was Jack _Morrison_, Commander of Overwatch.

As though he already wasn't in a pickle, Jack's face lightens even as his brow furrows in stress. "Gabriel." He waves down the man, and Jesse tenses up immediately.

"Jack." Gabriel's voice, happier and smoother than any other time Jesse had heard it, greets his ears, and Jesse turns to face the music.

Gabriel's face had seemed genuinely happy, before the expression cracked as his eyes found Jesse's.

"McCree." He says, stilted, body sounding stiff.

"Hey, Reyes." He nods his head, while Jack looks between the two of them, and then sourly at Gabriel.

"No." He immediately says, and Gabriel sighs, rolling his eyes.

"He's _not_ a recruit, Jack. He's a consultant on a very specific line of questioning."

"Does Ana know about this?" Jack drops all softness, and it's like Jesse suddenly isn't even there, doesn't exist.

"I cleared him by her this morning." He explains, before looking to McCree in irritation. "She was just about to send you a message for a meeting between the three of us, but this troublemaker just had to," Gabriel freezes, looking down to Jesse's missing arm. "Fuck McCree, where's your arm?"

"Prosthetic- and it's mighty rude of you to just point that out, Reyes." Jesse seethes between his teeth, setting down his tray of food, suddenly not hungry. "It's back in my room. I'll leave you to this, commander_s_." He nods his head at Jack, and the blonde at least has the decency to realize his change in demeanor had thrown off all pretenses and ruined the charade.

He rubs his nose, recalling very well why it really was he didn't jive too well with hero types.

The job still comes first, and hell, even if his unconscious genetics had him really connecting with that fellow pack member, well. They're just not meant to run in the same circles, them.

Jesse turns the corner, and suddenly finds himself face to face with the omnic. Chrome and green lights stand in his way, blocks his escape.

He snarls in displeasure, eyes flashing a deep rusty orange.

"Fuck do you want?" He lashes out, irritated, finger pointing against the metal chassis of the bot. "You can keep staring; but I don't take real kindly to folks stalking me for no real reason. If you got a problem with me, I'd appreciate it if you just-."

"_Jesse_." A voice, familiar and yet completely foreign, metallic and strained yet, sore with some kind of hurt, some kind of yearning, as the robotic hand reaches up to meet his hand, touch him, cradle him with a gentleness that threatened to cut him open.

Morning comes unkindly, that's not unusual. Days come unkindly as well, and nights too. Living was a challenge, and that was his real secret. Jesse McCree was just a hodge-podge creation, a Frankenstein's monster; a ghost among the living.

He chokes on sudden, incomprehensible tears, and his body melts back into the sand that was his true home, darkness embracing him with the kindness that life seemed to lack these days.

Even though he was a ghost, he still existed among the living.

He wasn't quite ready to face that ghost.

Not Genji.

Not yet.

XXXXX

When Jesse melts in front of him like something out of a Salvador Dali painting, Genji shockingly doesn't scream. He doesn't run away either, instead his hand stays frozen in the air, as though he could will Jesse back to existence by rubbing the place he'd vanished from.

Jesse had always been…_different_, if his teeth and general attitude had been things to go by, but this was to a new degree.

His eyes had glowed a deep orange, not wholly unlike Gabriel's red eyes. And then he'd turned into sand and ghosted out of the room in seconds…again, not unlike Reyes.

Suddenly, the nature of things clicks like he'd found the switch to the light bulb, and he feels…almost foolish for never wondering about it before, never having put the pieces together before.

Somehow…Gabriel and Jesse were _similar._

Genji absently thinks about if that might have anything to do with why Jesse was here now, but decides that will be a thought for another time.

His hand drops.

Now is time to lick his wounds.

Saying that could have gone better is an understatement, but that represented a lot in his and Jesse's tumultuous relationship, the one that only ended because he hadn't ever told Jesse he'd survived.

Morrison and Reyes round the corner moments after Jesse had vanished, and Genji is a bit surprised to see them both, even talking mildly casually. They'd been arguing so much of late, it was a bigger shock to see them getting along on any level than it was to see them at each other's throats.

"Agent Shimada, we were about to look for you." Gabriel curtly nods as they stopped before him, and Genji's eyes zoomed into something suspicious on his neck. Something made with teeth and pressure and something he'd lost a long time ago.

Jesse's pack mark- it's impossible for Genji not to recognize it, but what on earth was it doing on Reyes' neck?

Gabriel picks up on the fact Genji's staring at it, and the man makes a face. "Agent Shimada- I hope that you're mature enough to ignore a hickey."

"A hickey?" Jack starts, eyebrows meeting his hairline as he twists his head around to see it. Gabriel covers it with his hand.

"I'm not talking about this right now, Jack." Gabriel brushed off. "We were here to ask why Shimada here reported our consultant to Ashe, instead of us."

"We're coming back to that." Jack warns, though the tone is nothing but friendly.

Genji stares helplessly as they both look back at him, Gabriel's arms folding in displeasure. "So, why didn't you report this to Captain Amari?"

"I actually never reported this." Genji quietly states. "I brought the matter of Jesse McCree to Dr. Ziegler, and it was Dr. Ziegler who recognized him, and who alerted Lieutenant Sojourn, which caused Lieutenant Ashe to become involved. I hadn't realized that she had already gone to speak with Captain Amari yet. I was under the assumption we were going to go to you directly, commander Reyes, but you weren't available this morning."

"Why were you going to Commander Reyes directly?" Jack asks, shooting Gabriel a look.

"We both came to the conclusion that Commander Reyes was the one who brought Jesse here, and we knew that the two have…history."

"History," Jack comments, frown deepening, and Gabriel raises his hands in innocence.

"That was going to be mentioned in our discussion with Captain Amari- wait." The man squints, thinking hard. "We didn't mention his name." Gabriel realizes, pausing before he asks, "How do you know him, Shimada?"

Genji's mouth goes dry, but he finds the words. "He and I…" His metallic fingers rub against his thumb. "We also have history."

Jack genuinely looks surprised, while Gabriel's eyes go distant.

"Ashe and I both know who gave him those scars." Genji quietly tells Gabriel. "That's why we were going to you directly."

Jack has been standing there, putting the pieces together quietly, before it clicks.

"The Deadlock bust- that kid, he's Deadlock." He states, and Gabriel looks away. "You did that to him?" Jack presses, hand going to his own face, to where Jesse's scars were the worst.

"It wasn't supposed to happen like that." Gabriel says, but doesn't deny the accusation. "The kid took the shot for Ashe- but he took it at point blank range, to the face with my shotguns? Jack, we all thought he was as good as dead." He defends. "If not instantly, then certainly before we could give him any kind of treatment. We were in the middle of nowhere."

"You _saw_ he had survived the shot?" Jack questions, voice raising in incredulous anger.

"Jack, you saw his face." Gabriel defends, raising his own voice to match, before trying to deescalate. "You don't just…survive that. That he did is besides the point, at the time his entire fucking face was _gone_, he'd dropped like a pile of bricks. Never mind that this was before Dr. Ziegler was on our staff, she was still just visiting."

Jack covers his mouth with his hand as he thinks on it, giving a conflicted look to Gabriel.

"Tell me _honestly_ that you wouldn't have done the same." Gabriel dares Jack. "He shouldn't have survived it. I don't know how he did."

"I don't know what I would have done." Jack is quiet. "The Deadlock bust was over a decade ago…"

"It's easy to look back and say I should have made another choice. And maybe I should have. But the information I had at the time said he'd be dead within minutes, if not faster. Before I could have given him any kind of help. And even if he had lived, hell, Jack. It was directly to the face. I thought the damage, even if survivable, would be insurmountable to recover from."

Jack rubs his chin, looks to Genji, and then rubs his neck, before his hands drop to his sides. "We can talk about this later, Gabriel." He finally concedes, and turns to Genji. "That accounts for…Gabriel's history. But what about yours?"

"He turned up in Hanamura when I was 19." Genji says, voice hollow, in shock from hearing the full, gory details of how Gabriel left Jesse for dead. But he wasn't wrong- that wasn't a shot people usually survived from, if ever.

But Jesse wasn't usual.

But Genji's injuries also usually weren't survivable.

Reyes had still given him the chance. What an odd place to find himself in. That he was given the opportunity Jesse had been denied. Given the tools Jesse had lacked, that had driven Jesse to make deals that left him changed in so many ways.

Commander Morrison and Reyes were still looking at him expectantly, and so he continued, deliberate. "He wanted to pursue relations with my clan, I met him after my father turned him down."

He recalls the awkward smile, the way that he'd stared at the snow out the window.

"We had an…intimate relationship." He quietly explains. "Until my…recruitment into Overwatch."

Jack has the decency to redden a bit, before he saddens, realizing that Genji was obviously meaning the relationship had ended when his brother had 'killed him'.

Gabriel remains stoic, expression carefully manicured into blankness. "I see." Is all he says, nodding at Genji. "I suppose he hasn't recognized you."

"I would hope not, or this mask isn't good enough." Genji agrees, feeling some kind of…anger, frustration, that so much of him was covered; so much of him had been lost, but he doesn't let it rise.

"He walked this way." Jack notes, confused. "Where'd he go?"

"I don't know." Genji folds his arms. "He left."

Jack shifts, and he perks up, looking down at his feet.

Takeout boxes lie on the floor from Jesse's disappearing act like a smoking gun, and all three stare at them.

Jack and Gabriel look up, and then to him for answers, but he slides out of the way. "I was on my way to Dr. Ziegler." He excuses himself, finally free to leave, to let them resolve whatever had happened to Jesse in that moment.

He knew, based on that raw moment of fear, off that one attack, that he'd given up his right to Jesse a long time ago.

"_Do you think we can ever be married?" Jesse had tossed out one day. "We've been together, what, 5 years?"_

"_The clan has to make sure one of us passes on the Shimada line." Genji told him, head on Jesse's broad chest, the man relaxing with him in the gardens in the summer, the hot sticky air alleviated by the fact it was just the two of them, shirtless and beneath the shade of an old tree._

"_Oof. They have that much confidence in Hanzo?" He throws a low blow that Genji just bursts out laughing, rolling on the grass to look at Jesse more directly._

"_You like kids, though, don't you?" Genji murmurs, quiet. "I don't particularly want them now, nor do I really want to…keep participating in the family business, let alone put kids through it, but if it meant I could marry you."_

_Jesse's soft brown eyes run over his body, and the man sits up on his elbows, before he pulls himself upright, to Genji._

"_I love kids." Jesse confirms, calloused hand caressing Genji's chin, before it lowers and rubs appreciatively at his mark. "And I'd love your kids. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He leans in, and kisses Genji's lips tenderly. "Marry me, Genji. Don't care when. I just…I know I want you. Wanna spend the rest of my life with you."_

In a sense, Genji did. They never officially did anything, but he spent the rest of his life with Jesse, up until the day that Hanzo had murdered him.

That tenderness he'd spurned. That devotion he'd abandoned.

He'd not meant to- but then a few days turned into weeks into months into a year, and then longer. Now they'd spent almost as much time apart as they'd spent together, and Jesse'd spent all that thinking he was gone.

Their would be 10th anniversary was just in a few weeks.

But Genji had walked away, let Jesse think he was gone. Hoped he could move on.

Then he shows up and Gabriel has his mark on his neck, that tender piece of Jesse etched into his skin, that Genji had lost when he'd lost everything else.

Except he hadn't lost Jesse.

He'd chosen that, and that hurts him more than anything else.

XXXXX

_He wakes up, and he's in a dream._

_Jesse lies there staring at a beige ceiling with flies floating over his head, the room smells like blood and vomit and piss and sweat and shit and death and all the other hallmarks of human misery._

"_He's just not quite right." The man says over the room. "He's not a good fit, not for the program. I'll put him back close to where I found him."_

_His bed sits in the line of fire from the sun, and so every morning he's woken up when it burns his face awake, long before the heat ever moves in. Not that he can tell the difference like this anymore._

_He can't feel anything anymore. Not fear, not pain, not disgust. He's just a body on a bed, and the people that come and go treat him like one._

"_Jesse," Genji says, sitting on the edge of his bed. He blocks the sun with kindness few had shown Jesse period. "I don't think things can stay like this. With my father gone…I worry."_

_Brown eyes turn to him, lean over and kiss his forehead, his scar._

_Jesse wants to protect him, but Jesse is just a body. There is no agency. There is no feeling. The body is just a shell with blood and bones and skin._

_The body tries to speak but his mouth is like sand and his tongue is sand and he opens his lips and all that comes out is sand._

_Genji doesn't mind- he never has. He notices but just smiles, he doesn't ask, just kisses the dry cracked sand lips and Jesse meets him like a man lost in the desert, lost in the sand like he is._

_Then Genji stands, and leaves, and goes where the body can't, locked to the bed like he is and Jesse can't beg him to stay, beg him to stay where he can see him, protect him, but Genji can't hear words that aren't said._

_He leaves, and Jesse's one eye is blinded by sunlight and then Genji is gone._

_He's just a thing on a bed, someone else's mess. A corpse that has become the dirt he should have been buried in already._

_A doctor walks over._

_Hanzo's eyes are distant. He drops the clipboard he's holding and the sound echoes in the too big room, emptied out over time._

"_McCree." He says, like he's surprised he's here. Maybe he is. McCree should be dead after all, left for the vultures. It was only right- he'd gone by that name so long there'd be no one better to have everything down to his bones than the vultures._

_The body doesn't speak. He doesn't have to. Hanzo knows what he wants- who he's there for. He'd been their liaison a few times. Didn't necessarily fully approve, but didn't bring it up to Jesse. Genji would talk about their arguments sometimes, but to Hanzo at least Jesse was a link to something like the family business Genji was to be apart of._

"_McCree," He starts again, trying to find a voice. "Genji…he's…"_

_Hanzo's hands are covered in blood, as is the doctor's coat he's wearing._

_McCree doesn't hear the next word, doesn't want to._

_The body doesn't have a tongue doesn't have eyes doesn't feel and the body is then just sand in the earth because that's better than the reality Hanzo tells him next, told him back when the body felt._

_He wakes up in the sand and he's whole again._

_Ashe stands over him with Gabriel's hands on her shoulders, her face blurred because the memory was blurred and lost and she pulls out her daddy's gun and shoots him._

_The body can't feel it. He lies there in his blood and the sand with the sky overhead and an arm that won't move, and some faceless man approaches him, kneels over him and gives him a wicked smile._

"_Oh, just imagine the things I could do with you…"_

_Because a body is just a machine- it can be altered and molded and changed, sand can become clay and the man who Jesse only saw like this, without a face but with teeth that gleamed in too bright light. It can be programmed and wound up and made for a purpose._

_Jesse could do with _ _ **purpose** _ **.**

McCree wakes back up with his arm snapping back into place.

The room is black, he's face down on a bed that smells like death, and he can finally move. He sits up rapidly, breathing hard.

The room is not the dingy hospital room where he was experimented on. It's the room Gabriel had shoved him into.

That had just been an attack.

He breathes hard a few more times, before he puts his head in his hands.

Jesse can't think of the last time he'd had an attack that bad. Not since the year anniversary of Genji's death.

PTSD was so much worse when you could literally become sand; the shapelessness lent itself to pretty severe hallucinations as his consciousness struggled to piece together its existence. So the doctor had attempted to explain, but it was anyone's guess.

There weren't people like him who were just…available to ask questions. He couldn't even remember the man who had done this to him.

It was part of why Genji had connected him with a cybernetics guy who helped programmed his arm a kind of 'homing' device. If he panicked without the arm, he'd return to base, and as long as he was wearing the arm, he wasn't going anywhere.

Except Genji wasn't there to get him through this. It was just like after his death, when he'd been lost all over again. The room just smelt of him and metal and blood, exactly like when Jesse had run into Shimada castle in denial of what Hanzo had said, in refusal to believe he was gone, and only found blood and metal and Genji's sword left in the middle of it.

He took off his arm and threw it at the wall, enraged that it'd brought him back here, that he was back here.

Jesse put his bullseye of a scar into his hand, panting, sweating, trying to keep it together and failing.

The door opens, and Jesse freezes as Commander Reyes walks in- the man responsible for his misery.

Except he's older, more tired- he looks only somewhat like the man who lorded over him in death. An eyebrow goes up, and he grabs the arm from the floor. "You're not looking too hot." He comments, and Jesse takes the arm from him roughly.

"Mind yours." He bites, voice hoarse.

Gabriel's other eyebrow lifts, unimpressed. "I came here to grab you- Morrison and Amari want to talk with you. And I come down to hear screaming."

Jesse grits his teeth. "Like I said. Mind your business."

Gabriel's eyes squint. "Unfortunate as it is, you are my business." Jesse's teeth are bared and his haunches rise, and in spite of a flinch, Gabriel stands firm. "Up." He kicks the bed with a foot. "If you won't tell me if something's wrong then we need to get going to Morrison and Amari."

Jesse sits there, boiling in his anger, and growls. "I'm of half a mind to punch you."

"Later." Gabriel says, affect low. "It'll make them ask too many questions."

"I can't be in this room anymore." He explodes, standing up in a flurry, before rushing out.

Gabriel stares at him as he walks away, before he purses his lips and follows, closing the door behind them. "Was it that hard to use your words?" He asks, just sarcastic enough that Jesse caves to his base instincts and grabs him by his neck- pressing viciously on his mark.

The man, his pack mate, crumbles to his knees, held up only because Jesse was holding him. Brown eyes go distant, and his body goes limp.

"_You_ don't deserve explanations." He hisses. "Not from me. Not about this."

He lets Gabriel go, and the man is just barely able to catch himself.

It takes a minute, but he clears his throat, dusts himself off as he adjusts himself to sit more comfortably on the floor. "About _Shimada_?" He asks, voice too sharp to not know about what that would do to him, and Jesse goes very still. "Or about how your powers are closer to mine than you saw fit to mention."

Jesse is moving before he has time to process it. "What do you know about that?!" He growls, all anger and teeth and claws digging into blackening skin that turns into smokes and escapes his grasp. "Were you the bastards that killed him?!"

"Genji?" Gabriel dares to laugh, disembodied and black eyed and vengeful, and Jesse can only snarl, his claws out and bared and ready to eviscerate Gabriel for saying his name, already imagining that Gabriel was responsible for his death, was taunting him for it- when Gabriel breaks that thought. "I know more than you, apparently. He's here- used to be one of my agents. I was the one who saved him from his piece of shit brother."

Just like that, Jesse's world stops, all over again. He's the 27 year old desperately trying to follow the blood trail, trying to find where the body was- where Genji was, refusing to believe Hanzo's ghost-white face as he'd told Jesse the younger was dead, gone. "Hanzo?" He clarifies, recalling details that make more sense in hindsight. The man had been so surprised to see that he was around- that Genji had someone else there for him.

"He wasn't kidding." Gabriel breathes out through his nose, keeping his expression composed as he solidifies while Jesse sinks to the floor. "I have to say, I can't see it. Didn't fit anywhere in our Intel, that our asset was dating someone from Deadlock. Then again, when he was the one feeding us information, I can see how we'd overlook that."

Jesse is shell-shocked, and he looks up at Gabriel.

"You didn't mention your powers." The man says, having taken control of the situation, taken the reins from the numb, feeling-less thing to be left and toyed with and turned into something, reigns over him like the king his name invoked.

"Figure I didn't have to." He echoes. "You had em. Isn't that just…what this does?"

Gabriel sighs, turning to the side. "Not quite. Morrison doesn't have our…shape shifting qualities. But he shares some of yours- that speed…but you have my claws." He stands, pensive, while Jesse absorbs that fact. Genji's here- Genji's been here.

Genji left him too. Genji lived and moved on.

"That begs the question- where'd you even get your treatment?" Gabriel asks, taking advantage of Jesse's stunned silence.

He breathes a horrible mockery of a laugh. "Wouldn't call it _treatment_…more like…an experiment. Don't remember from who." He says, first. "I was found…after the bust. Memories are…real hazy." He looks to his hands. "Been like this since."

Gabriel kneels next to him, looks him over, hands ghosting over him. "Someone just… did this to you?" He asks, and if Jesse hadn't been experiencing a meltdown, he'd note the sympathy. "You didn't…ask for this?"

"My face was half blown off." Jesse reminds. "I was a dead man walkin'. Couldn't speak. Was at the end of the game, cards were ready to fold, but…someone found me. I remember…there were others." He mumbles. "Lots died. Woke up…years later. Was just outside Albuquerque. Place was…abandoned. Lots of corpses. Things that. Smelled like death." His sentences grow shorter as those memories tapped into something deep and hidden and scarred.

"Jesus." Gabriel breathes. "Albuquerque? We- _I'll_ look into it. Any other details…help, but…Jesus." He murmurs, before patting Jesse's shoulder. "Now c'mon. Get up." He murmurs, and Jesse wobbles, but listens, eyes distant.

"McCree." Gabriel calls, and Jesse can't look at him. He wants to vomit, wants to pretend like he hadn't heard that. "Get it together." The man gruffly shakes him at his shoulder, and he realizes then that he didn't know when Gabriel had gotten this close, his face practically in Jesse's. "I still need you. I can't help what Shimada did, but you can still help me out now. Maybe we'll…figure out some of your shit too." He firmly says, and Jesse can only nod.

He was used to people making decisions about his life and where it was headed.

Folks during the crisis sending him to Deadlock, Ashe, Gabriel, Ana, the sick fuck who did this to him, now Genji.

He was just a body, only made of sand. Fit to be molded into something usable.

XXXXX

McCree doesn't look right, and he certainly isn't acting right. Gabriel can see that- and he's not an entirely heartless, selfish bastard. Messages Ana first, to say they need a minute, and then heads straight to Moira's quarters.

"I told you Jackrabbit, I've not seen McCree." Moira smoothly lies. "Why would I lie to you?" She asks, and then pulls the phone away from her ear. She catches sight of Gabriel and McCree as they push the door open, and she puts a carefully manicured finger up to ask them to pause. "Alright, while that's fair, this is a personal matter. I know how much he matters to you. I'll call you later, Gabriel just walked in and it seems like the cowboy's made an appearance."

She clicks the line off, and sighs as she turns off her comm the minute after, Ashe calling her back immediately.

"She'll be on her way here now." Moira unhappily states, giving a drawn out sigh as she locks her door. "This will only hold her back for so long."

Gabriel pushes Jesse forward, and the man startles out of whatever shocked trance he'd found himself in, but only to catch himself.

"Did you _break_ him, Reyes?" She asks, affect flat as she examines him.

"Maybe?" He throws out, thinking back to the connection with Genji. "Mentioned the ninja and he was thrown for a real loop. It changed his attitude, but I'm supposed to take him to Amari. He's done a complete about face and now he's the picture of compliance."

Moira raises an eyebrow at him in surprise. "How does Shimada play into this?" And Jesse flinches, while she gets a look of comprehension. "Ah. They know each other. Of course they do." She leans back on her desk.

"We were gonna get married," Jesse mumbles his explanation, and it dawns on Gabriel that was the crux of it. He remembers the footage from when he had to go looking for Jesse a second time. Genji had reached out and Jesse had poofed into sand.

He then remembers his _own_ inability to control his powers with his emotions, and groans. "Right. Just grief then." He concludes.

"Likely trauma as well- you melted for a week after Blackwatch was suspended and Amélie was kidnapped." Moira murmurs, seeing the look on his face. "Any new information on his origins."

"Don't remind me," Gabriel shudders. "Now…Jack's probably already told Ana about…Genji," He sighs. "I should go."

Moira nods, crossing her arms. "Yes, now begone, before Ashe comes in looking for that one."

Gabriel makes a face. "Don't tell me to begone, or at least say, begone, commander," He says, putting a hand on Jesse's shoulder to lead him out.

"I'll bare that in mind, Gabriel." She waves as she unlocks her door and lets them out, Gabriel quickly ushering Jesse out.

"You can't melt in there kid." Gabriel warns him.

"Not a kid." Jesse says, a hint of his bite back.

"That's what I like to hear."

"It's not melting. S' just…an attack."

"You can't have one in there." Gabriel firmly tells him, hand on his back. "The consequences would be devastating for me. It would open up an entire line of questions I can't answer."

At the heart of it, his reasons are selfish- he's not been a good man in a long time and he knows it, but Jesse listens regardless.

"Think I'm… worn out." He admits. "They take it out of me, leave me…like this." He gestures up and down, the first sign of awareness in a bit. "Before, it never happened more than once a day."

That pulls on Gabe a bit; in a way his heart hadn't been pulled in a long time. "When was the last time?"

"Fuck," He says. "Year at least. More. Longer before…" His eyes darken. "Before Genji left me."

"You've got more control of it than I do." He mutters. "I have to slink around base, hope no one gets a good look at me when I'm feeling anything more than nothing."

"Yer frustrated by that," Jesse notes, a finger playing with the smoke from Gabe's neck.

"Yes, I'm losing control of myself." He gestures with the hand that isn't herding Jesse. "Why wouldn't I be frustrated that someone who's had the abilities longer doesn't fall apart at the drop of a hat?"

"Have you ever tried not trying to hold that control?" Jesse murmurs. "Could be straining yourself, same way my attacks strain me the other way. I've known since…forever, I ain't got a single damn thing I can control." He's then silent, and Gabriel thinks on that.

"…No." He admits, quiet. "I've never tried to…not control it. You don't think about it?"

Jesse shrugs. "Not really. Sometimes it feels like instincts are all I have left, and it's just…this instinct as well."

Gabriel doesn't know what to think about that, and they round the corner to Jack's office.

Ana is waiting outside of it for them, and raises an eyebrow when she sees Gabriel's arm around him. "You two look close." She remarks, clinical, and Gabriel breaks the contact.

Jesse wobbles from how quick the motion was, and gives Gabriel a bit of a look. Gabriel, wide-eyed, says nothing to him, but coughs to clear his throat, and straightens himself to look at Ana.

"Sorry we're late, Captain Amari. I…gave him the information about Agent Shimada."

"Only because I asked," Jesse smoothly covered when Ana's face twisted. "I…he approached me in the hallway. I had to be sure it was…him." Brown eyes turned to Gabriel. "And I had no reason to distrust him."

Ana's glare doesn't go away, and while he appreciated the cover from the breach in privacy, she likely doesn't think much of the idea Gabriel's trustworthy.

It really was difficult to keep up with all the lies he and Moira had wrapped themselves up in- but they had little choice.

"It's not my place to comment on Shimada, but I am sorry for your…loss, McCree." She allows, gesturing them inside.

Jesse looks to Gabriel again, wondering how, exactly, he'd gotten roped in this far, and Gabriel couldn't help but sympathize.

He wonders about that same thing every day.

XXXXX

Ana sits besides Jack, and Gabriel sits besides Jesse. There was a seat for Gabriel at Jack's left side, but he supposed that he sat next to Jesse for support.

The charming younger man he'd met this morning was gone, replaced with a glassy eyed thing that Ana clearly seemed equally concerned with. The Deadlock logo was very apparent on his arm- the prosthetic that had since found itself back on its owner.

Jack is a bit sick by the prospect that he was facing one of the people Gabriel's team had murdered, almost like a ghost of mistakes past, but he knows how awful Deadlock had been. Remembers the chokehold on the US it had.

But it was probably something like how Ana felt, this was Ashe's friend, one who had, for the standards set out for him, done something heroic for her.

And they'd left him to suffer. Clean deaths were what Ana went for, and so did most people they worked with, or they would be put up for preliminary action following behavioral screening. Gabriel's weapons lent well to that too. Except the exception to the rule was sitting in front of him, and it was clear he'd had a whole life after the incident.

A life that Genji had departed from, and the news that he was alive was clearly something that he was struggling with.

"So, McCree," Ana starts, as it does seem that no one else will. "We were originally going to do this without you here, but we figured we should include you in this conversation." She turned to Gabriel, and her eyes narrowed. "Commander Reyes wasn't meant to be bringing anyone new into work with him, period."

"He mentioned this." Jesse murmured, not making eye contact with her or Jack. "But I'm not an agent, and I wasn't ever gonna be one. I was supposed to be gone by the morning, but…" He turns to Gabriel. "Things changed. Situation…deepened. So he needed me on for a bit longer."

"Interesting that he told you this before he informed us." Jack finally states, folding his hands and resting his chin on them. "You're in tricky ground, McCree. Normally, Commander Reyes has full authority to use civilian contacts to pursue his investigations."

"Which is all this is," Gabriel tried to explain, but Jack cut him off, quiet.

"However, both in the person he chose," He points to the tattoo, "And the general situation with his jurisdiction, he wasn't clear to make that call without consulting us beforehand."

"I was coming to you first thing this morning." Gabriel said, and Jack held up a hand.

"Commander Reyes, please. You should have asked before bringing him on base, and requested to do this before ever leaving Zurich."

"It was a unique opportunity- one I couldn't have known while I was here." Gabriel defends, and Ana nods to his side.

"Recall, Commander Morrison, the individual's situation." She tapped her arm below the desk, right where Jesse's tattoo was. "No one would have known about him as a potential asset. Meaning, no one else, aside from us three, and a few key members close to us know he's on base."

"What, exactly, is he relevant for?" Gabriel looks to Jack, and Jack can see something tired in the back of his eyes, but as much as he wants to give Gabriel the benefit of the doubt, the 'no one will know' timeframe had come and gone. "Talon's in the market for Deadlock. McCree mentioned a bomb."

"They're illicit weapons traffickers. It makes sense." Jack pieces together easily. "We've known that they are looking for new resources."

"The Reaper reached out to him on their behalf," Ana mentions, and Jack, while a bit surprised, just nods.

"While it is interesting information that the Reaper has worked with Talon, it was a theory privately held by Gerard in the weeks prior to his death." Jack acknowledges. "Though it is nice to have it confirmed, I see no real reason to keep him on base for weeks, as you have requested."

Gabriel just swallows, and breathes out through his nose. "Jack," He tries, and that's what finally gets under Jack's skin.

"Don't 'Jack' me right now." He threatened, voice low. "We're all under serious scrutiny, and that's something he can throw into the balance. Even though you say no one else knows about him, he made a serious scene at the cafeteria when he failed to recognize me and so engaged with me in front of staff, agents and other people on base."

Jesse takes the time to speak up, expression that same sour disappointment as when Jack and Gabriel had talked after that very conversation. "You weren't calling it a scene back then. Seemed pretty receptive."

If he wasn't under fire on every side, he would have flushed, been embarrassed by the call out, but he had a job to do- so he ignored McCree. "Unless there is a tangible reason he needs to be here on base, he'll have to be returned to the States." Jack said, and his word was final.

Gabriel goes stony and bows his head to accept that judgment, while Ana just looks… a bit disappointed, not for the man before her, but the one who was in her family who would be trying to find this man now.

Silence reigns. Jesse's chin turns upwards to look at him directly. His brown eyes are dim and his expression is flat, and his gaze flickers to Gabriel for a minute before he goes, "Alright. May I be dismissed, sirs?" He asks, calm. Gabriel's fists tighten, but Jack nods.

"Thank you for trying to help." Jack rumbles, "You're just not quite right, not really fit for the program that Gabriel is trying to invoke here. We'll put you back where…"

Jack doesn't get a chance to finish his sentence, because McCree suddenly jerks to his feet. All of them become alarmed, and Gabriel tries to push McCree out the door before the younger man vomits.

He doesn't get a chance to even open the door for him, because the door opens to Ashe, and the man at their center bursts into nothing, his prosthetic arm crashing to the floor, rolling towards the open door, its tattoo landing face-up at Ashe's feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank u for reading, and I hope you're enjoying!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a week and a day late, but I do that with style and only some forgetfulness. Some more missed romantic overtures, but we're slowly getting there.

Lots of things happen in the moments after Jesse vanishes and his arm drops to the ground and rolls to Ashe's feet- at first, all's quiet; all's still. Then hell breaks loose and everyone has come to a conclusion all their own.

Jack speaks first, shocked into a simple thought. "He's enhanced."

Gabriel hisses at him, "He's _vanished _into thin air, and your only concern is that he's enhanced?"

"It's not like if you knew, you were gonna say anything!" Jack points out, bitter. "You love to keep crucial information to yourself."

The look in Gabriel's eyes after he says that hardens, and Jack can't take it back.

Ana had already been up to help escort the sick looking man out of Jack's office, but has gotten between them, and was now attempting to restore order. "Both of you, enough, we can deal with these issues as soon as we find him."

"No, I think that we should talk about this now." Gabriel says, haunches rising, ready to get into yet another argument. "Since Jack's eager to make accusations."

Ashe falls to her knees and just…puts her hands on the arm, tenderly feeling that piece of Jesse that had been left on the ground. "McCree, what did we do to you?" She asks nobody, voice quiet as she collected the prosthetic, and stood again.

"It's not an accusation," Jack defends himself. "It's the truth, Gabe. If there are other enhanced individuals they open up a whole line of conversation," He gestures to the door. "And we were about to send him home!"

"Hey." Ashe says, struggling to find her voice when faced with such a hard reminder of who she was before. "You weren't gonna send him home- I wouldn't have let you." When the argument continues unabated, she says it louder. "Hey!"

Gabriel looks at her irritably, Ana gives her a sympathetic glance with her hands up physically separating theme, and Jack can only feel guilt as he looks at one of his lieutenants, at the woman who was essentially Ana's oldest, and one of Gabriel's prized agents who had come to work for him. He can see that pain in her eyes, the way she held the arm protectively, their tattoos meeting and touching.

"That's enough you two- I swear, you are both too much to deal with. Jesse McCree's missing, and what we know about him says that's a bad thing." She explains, commanding. "We have his arm, and this thing seems to be a pretty advanced prosthetic. Doubt he'd leave it here." She taps it gently with her hands. "I'm gonna bring this to Dr. Ziegler, and then we're gonna have a _discussion_ about McCree and about finding him. And no, y'all are _not_ gonna kick me out of it, since I'm the only person with a stake in him- he ain't going anywhere."

Gabriel's hand goes to the hickey on his neck and his eyes narrow at her accusation- something Jack notices, but keeps to himself, tucks it into his consciousness as he's always done when Gabriel's involved.

"I'll start a sweep on my level." Gabriel volunteers, and he's out the door like a shadow, before Jack can address anything, his darkness leaving with him.

Ashe lets him pass, glaring at him unhappily as he goes, before looking back down at the arm. "Seems like Jesse wasn't too happy to see me." She murmurs to Ana, ignoring Jack altogether.

"Gabriel claims his memory of the incident is mostly gone." Ana tries to soothe, walking forward. "We aren't sure what parts of his past he remembers- he and Gabriel are a little too friendly with each other for him to recall the whole picture. He doesn't know what he remembers of you, if anything. He told me he doesn't know how to break that to you."

"That's why you two were avoiding talking about Deadlock?" Jack pieces together, and Ana gives him an unimpressed look.

"Yes, Jack." She agrees. "We don't know how much he knows, and the full picture is very ugly."

Ashe turns the arm over in her hands, and Jack can see the tattoo on his arm. "He remembers Deadlock," He points out, and Ashe's face darkens.

"Well, of course he does." She explains. "He woulda been alone with the other remnants of Deadlock, and they had the opportunity to piece him back together, however they wanted." She looks disgusted by the thought. "The southwest without us wouldn't have been the same. People hated us, but they also needed us. So many towns had been left to die…" She shakes her head. "It would have been fishy if he hadn't been apart of Deadlock. There ain't doctors down there that would be willing to treat someone with no ability to pay unless they're getting organs outta you, or they're scared for retribution." She rubs the symbol again.

She looks at Ana, and her face crumbles. "I've been here longer than I knew Jesse. I've known Fareeha longer than I knew Jesse." She holds the arm tighter. "I was 21 when y'all brought me in. Met him at 15. I only knew him for 6 years."

Ana nods, gravely- she had known this, but it was easy to understand how those 6 years were formative. Jack knew it too, but he didn't know what to say. Ashe and him weren't half as close as Ana or even Gabriel was with her.

Gabriel and his time spent in the SEP is similar to Ashe's time with Jesse.

It all feels like a lifetime ago now, but it was impossible to forget, it was the basis of his relationship with Gabriel, and no matter how much had changed- there was no one else they trusted more than the other, they both lived through it and came out the other side, and they _loved_ each other. The word isn't spoken lightly, and Jack doubts he's ever said it aloud. There was one big thing standing between him and other long-term relationships, and that was his love for Gabriel Reyes.

He sits at his desk, heavy, looking at the photo of him and Gabriel and Ana, and wonders how they'd come to this, in spite of everything they'd shared, everything they'd gone through together. They were still bound to the other through this one piece they shared.

That one piece that they shared that one piece of themselves with the other and no one else.

That was, no one else, not until Jesse McCree had showed that he was also enhanced.

He sighs as he realizes that there's no real way to get Jesse McCree out of base, not now that the whole mess has gotten this complicated.

Sighs heavier as he realizes he has to dig into Gabriel's line of work, once again, and find answers the man had held from him, again.

Wonders how they'd fallen this far apart, and if the eternal, immovable torch was worth it all over again, same as he has every day since Venice.

XXXXX

Hours later, Jesse McCree reforms in a rather awkward position, his arm had been placed on the counter of one of Angela Ziegler's medical office, not that he knew that.

He reforms over the side of the counter; arm left on top and the rest of him on his hand and knees. He sits up, and pulls his arm down onto his lap.

"That's a first." He murmurs, dizzy. He'd never had two attacks in the same 24 hour span.

The fluorescent medical lights explaining where it was he was, even if he couldn't precisely know _where_ he was: a doctor's office, of sorts, and he turns his head to spot a pretty blonde looking at him in shock, a clipboard in her hands, a pretty standard looking uniform on.

"Jesse," She says, sounding startled by his sudden reappearance. "Commander Reyes, Captain Amari, and Ashe are looking for you."

He groans, feeling sick, blocking out the florescent lights as memories come back to him. Right. Ashe.

"Told him no Ashe." He mutters, frustrated with Reyes, but realizes that it might not have been Reyes that clued her in- he was on her turf, and his tattoo was a dead giveaway. "Fucking, I don't want to see her," He struggles to his feet, and the woman- petite against him- comes to hers as well.

"You should rest." She tries to calm him down, but Jesse brushes off the concern.

"You're gonna tell her I'm here," Jesse rumbles, shaking his head to clear it. "And I am not dealin' with her. She made her choice, I'm makin' mine."

"She thought you were dead," The woman explains, as though he didn't already know that, putting her hands up and trying to lead him to the bed.

"N' so what?" Jesse laughs, voice low. She still went n' worked with the ones who did this. I owe her nothin' more than I've already given her." The blonde frowns, and he clues her in. "My life."

With a grunt and a little too much effort, he turns to sand and coughs as he reappears on the other side of her, refusing to be boxed in. He takes a few steps forward, before he comes to a halt, finding a photo framed with the blonde and a familiar, if changed face.

It would have hurt, if he weren't already emotionally drained.

Genji's face looks at him from the photo, with a smile in his eyes he's not seen in years, not since the man had supposedly gone and died. He can see now, why the man hides behind the mask, but that didn't stop the sucker punch as he can remember all those times he trusted Genji with his own scars, his own insecurities, and Genji had told him they didn't matter none. Apparently that was only true when it wasn't on Genji's face.

What an idiot he'd been to trust him.

He picks up the frame, and turns to show it to her. "Have her n' Genji talk it out, for all I care. They seem _meant_ for each other," He growls, setting down the frame a little too hard, the glass cracking as his talons show themselves. "Should never have come here."

He goes through the door, and the blonde stays put. A smart decision, he absently thinks, limping through the halls of his enemies.

The bad news is that he's overspent himself. On top of the attacks, using his power to get around her took energy from reserves he didn't have.

The worse news is that he doesn't know where he is. He can say for certain it's still in the halls of Zurich, as he looks out the window and into the snow.

He has to stop, coming to a halt as he runs out of steam. "God, fuck." He pants, sliding down the wall as he gives in, stares out at the snow. He knows he's close to where he needs to be- he can see the Morrison statue outside, but he can't figure out the easiest way back, not with 3 separate people on his tail, not when he's this spent. He wants to sit down and sleep, but he can't. If he does he'll be caught.

"This is one broke ass game of Pac-Man," He grouses, forcing himself back to his feet, feeling one side of him melt tellingly in anger at being moved. The blonde was right- he needs rest, but he can't afford to, not while he's so exposed.

The door at the end of the hall opens, and he braces for Reyes' anger, Ashe's demands, or Amari and whatever she'd bring.

Instead, the form is smaller, more lithe. Spiky brown hair and civilian clothes, with one bright glowing blue exception in her middle. She bites her lip as she sees him and freezes.

In frustration, he bares his teeth, just wanting her to be out of his way. "Move." He growls, and she lifts her hands, trying to defuse the situation.

"I'm not with whoever's after you," She says, quiet. "I know the best place to hide."

He coughs, and he feels weak, and he doesn't want to be here. "You don't even know who I am."

"I know that you're like me." She blinks forward in a flash of blue light, grabbing his prosthetic to steady him, that one part of him- the only one- that wasn't melting. "And I can see you don't want to get looked at right now."

He lets her guide him away from the snowy windows, from the statue and the unfamiliar part of base, and lets him lean on her. She's surprisingly strong, considering the fact she was so much shorter than him. "Name's Jesse," He manages as she narrowly avoids Amari, ducking them both out of sight.

"Lena." She says brightly moments after, opening up a door that looked like a lab- something that made him deeply uncomfortable, were it not for the fact that she removed the harness around her and set it down on the floor. "No one comes here anymore, except me when I want to spend time without my accelerator on." She explains, pulling out a couch that was pressed against the wall.

He sinks against the couch, and is relieved when the sunlight doesn't hit his eyes, but the wall away from them.

She sits down next to him, having grabbed a sparkling water out of a mini-fridge that had been tucked in behind the couch. "Now, I won't ask, but I'd be joking if I said I wasn't curious." She admits, leaning back.

"What's your story, first?" He mumbles, hoping to have something to hold over her if she did decide to double cross him, tired of people who knew everything about him when they were faceless, nameless entities that could slip away in the night. "N' what was that thing on your chest?"

"That was my chronal accelerator." She explains, dampening some. "This room…it was built back when my grip on time was a lot more shaky. So I can take it off here." She fidgets with the can, and she sighs. "I don't quite remember the full story, but what I know for certain is I was the test pilot for Overwatch's experimental slipstream program." She smiles at that, before it fades.

"It was my very first assignment in Overwatch. But then it all just…went very wrong." She rubs her neck. "My friend Winston said everyone thought I'd died in the explosion, until I started…appearing on base, like a ghost. No one could touch me, I couldn't touch anything- sometimes I knew where I was, other times I didn't. At first, people who saw me thought I was a ghost, but…it became clear I wasn't. So work started to pin me back down in the present."

She points to the accelerator. "That was his prototype. I wear it around base, I have a few more, but there's this field here, and another in my quarters." She puts her feet up, rests her chin on her knees and looks out at the room. "If it comes off and I'm not in here, or it breaks…I'll be gone again, and who knows where or when it'll be when I'm found?"

"Sounds scary." He murmurs, popping off his arm. "S' about the same deal with my arm, but…less existential crisis, more just trying to be practical. I…also don't remember most of the details, but last thing I remember clearly is being half dead in the desert- I'd been walking and all of a sudden run out of adrenaline, and I laid down to die," He places down the prosthetic, runs his hand over his scarred face.

"Then I'm a few years older in a place that reeks of death. Arm's gone, face is bandaged over, can't even leave because my body is just…sand. Moving it shifts it and I lose track of myself again. By the time I managed to leave, I'm sunburnt, dehydrated, hungry as all get out, and only have a few more pieces of understanding. I'm in Albuquerque with little else to go off of, so I have to start anew. Fresh." He shrugs, leaning back. "Guess I managed to, if I lived this long in spite of all that."

"Sounds scary." Lena echoes him, quiet. "I don't know how I'd deal with this if I couldn't remember how I got here."

"I don't know how I'd stop myself from killin' the motherfuckers if I had names." He nudges her. "We deal with it 'cause we've got no choice but to. I was about your age when I woke up like this."

"You're not melting anymore, at least." She notes, "Wait, I thought your arm was like my chronal accelerator…" And he snorts.

"The melting is…separate. I just overworked my systems, too much and I lose my form." He explains, putting the arm back on. "The arm's for when I fully, uh, dissipate. Much easier to keep track of an arm than to guess where I'll pop back up."

"Oh, so it's a homing device." She says with newfound understanding. "Winston would love to get a look at this- it'd be useful in case this ever did malfunction or break."

"Hell, I couldn't tell you much about it." Jesse admits, "It was commissioned as a gift."

_A voice from a better times murmurs that it isn't a ring, but it's a lot more expensive. Jesse told them back then that it meant as much and more than any old ring._

"Well, just to look over it would be nice." Lena hums, setting her feet back down on the floor. "He's such a worrywart. Not that I blame him, I worry about it too, sometimes."

Jesse can understand that all too well, and he damns his heart for being this soft, even after all these years. "I'll…see what I can manage." He agrees, popping off the arm again. "Might need that back on short notice, so if it moves at all, know that I need it."

It's nice to be rid of that weight from Genji for the time being, and to be honest, maybe it'd be best if he just left it here with someone who could use it without the baggage.

He then recalls how much of a bear his life was without a prosthetic, and hesitates. Jesse doesn't have to decide now, so he settles back down.

Lena is busy putting back on her gear, and Jesse realizes how much time had passed in silence. "Reyes' lookin' for me. Amari and Ashe are as well."

"I figured, when I saw Captain Amari and Commander Reyes talking, but why Ashe?" She asks, confused.

"Unfinished business and unhappy history, what else?" Jesse murmurs. "…What's she like now, anyways?"

"Well, I guess that she's kind of authoritarian, she and I haven't worked much together, but Captain Amari thinks highly of her. But, wait," She does a double take. "You knew her?" She asks, and he fishes out his wallet from his jeans, tosses it at her. The young woman opens it, and finds the torn photograph. "Oh wow, she looks so different!" Her head bobs like a light switch as she compares the photograph with him. "You do too."

"Scars do that to someone," He says, and she hands the wallet back to him.

Lena shakes her head. "No…" She explains, biting her lip, seeming awkward about how that came out. "It's…well, you look sad, now." She shifts on the balls of her feet, wondering if she'd overstepped boundaries. He opens the wallet, to look at where he's taped the photo back together.

Jesse's quiet for a long time, and then fingers his own smug face, unmarred and so much brighter, a decade ago, a lifetime ago. "Suppose I am."

"I'll bring this to Winston, feel free to hang around here. No one will come looking, I promise- and there aren't cameras here." She heads to the door, but pauses at the exit. "… I know you asked, but… well, it might not be my place, but she looks…sad now, too."

She vanishes through the door with a blue blip, and Jesse is left to think about the face he only can see in photographs, absent from his memory, as anything more than a faceless form he can never quite reach- white hair and an empty face standing over him, hands down at her sides.

He turns his face down towards the image, and stares at the photo a while, like it would give him any more answers or show him anything besides a long-forgotten past.

XXXXX

Angela texts him to tell him Jesse had reformed in her office, only to promptly disappear, and Genji didn't have the energy to message either Ashe or Gabriel with the update.

He should have mentioned that the arm was where Jesse would reform, but he'd forgotten about that functionality. There were lots of pieces of Jesse he'd forgotten over the years, and he finds himself looking back on them all with the kind of vigor of an addict being re-exposed to their substance.

He personally didn't want to be apart of the investigation, not after having drained himself just to try to speak with Jesse, only to set off his attack. He doesn't have to think far as to what might have caused the second.

Genji never asked him what he saw in his attacks, but sometimes Jesse offered pieces of himself. His scarred face, his missing arm, his broken memory, his unstable powers, and his panic and anxiety and the impact of his injuries and subsequent treatment, and Genji had promised to love each one of them as they were.

He can't imagine how much of a hypocrite he looks like to Jesse.

With a confidence he doesn't feel, he walks into Winston's observation deck, wanting to set up bots to break down- over and over and over again until he felt numb.

Instead he's greeted again by a vision of Jesse, the arm he'd given him connected to wires and under Winston's careful scrutiny, Tracer sitting nearby, chatting brightly with her girlfriend, if the look on her face was anything to go by.

"Genji," Winston acknowledges him with a smile, and shocks things back into life. "What a surprise, what do you need?"

"Where did you get that?" He asks, and Tracer looks down at it, and puts her phone away, quiet.

"New friend- he's letting me borrow it." She said, confidently, and calm. "It's a pretty unique prosthetic. Winston was wondering if he could apply its principles to my own accelerator."

"So he gave it to you." Genji murmurs, and he rubs his hands together.

Tracer raises an eyebrow, and Winston pauses. "Do you know him?" Tracer asks, awkward.

He decides on the truth. "I knew Jesse." He gestures to the arm. "I was the one who…got that for him."

They look to him, then back at the arm, and then back to him. It was undoubtedly a surprise; both Tracer and Winston knew his feelings about…cybernetics, especially the ones that covered his body and kept him alive.

"Oh." Winston says, a bit stunned. "If you could tell me who you commissioned this from, that would be very helpful."

Genji gives the name thoughtlessly; his tone quiet, too busy staring at the arm on the table, his own hand going out to touch it. He steps forward and gently puts his fingers in Jesse's, reimagining them when they were better, when Jesse loved him and he was whole.

"Do you know why they're all searching for him?" Tracer asks him as Winston walks away to plug the name into their systems, surprising Genji. He breaks the tender handhold, and backs away.

"He and Lieutenant Ashe have a shared history." He explains. "But she wasn't aware that he was alive until Commander Reyes brought him here and I…saw him again." He licks his dry lips under his mask. "She wants to reconcile with him, I believe. Commander Morrison and the Captain, I believe, want to send him back to the States, as Commander Reyes doesn't have jurisdiction to pick up people to work with him anymore." He goes quiet. "And I don't know Commander Reyes' angle. But my best guess is that Jesse is his responsibility, considering he's the one who brought him here."

"That's all so sad." Tracer murmurs, crossing her arms. "He showed me an old picture of himself with her, he looked so much happier. Then there's how he's ended up like that." It's bile in his throat to hear her say that, since Jesse kept much of his demons out of Genji's sight, especially his past. They built a life together, a future, and now he wonders how much he missed out on.

The photograph she was talking about was something he hadn't seen until Angela brought it to his attention, he'd had no idea that Ashe and Jesse had known each other to such a level.

"So, why'd you commission this for him?" Tracer asks, curious, and he remembers clearly Jesse reforming in one of the koi ponds, almost drowning because he couldn't swim. He and…another he wouldn't name mentally, had to drag him out.

"_Your boyfriend is causing trouble with those abilities of his." The faceless monster told him, and Genji had haughtily snort._

"_He's actually my fiancé now." He said back, and the monster rolled brown eyes and gave Genji a smile that hurts to recall now._

"_I don't see that conversation going over well with father."_

"_Father just wants me happy! Otherwise he would have kicked Jesse out ages ago." Genji defended, crossing his arms. "I think Jesse wants a ring, but I don't want to…you know, have the whole clan know about it."_

"_How about something to prevent this from happening again," The monster gave him a side hug, and patted his back with a tenderness that hurt to remember. "No one would know if it was just a prosthetic."_

He doesn't know how to answer her, so he just looks at her, licking his lips under his mask.

"He must have been important if you got him something that nice." Tracer reasons, resting her chin on the palm of her hand.

"He was- I…loved him." Genji looks at the arm, remembering Jesse's mark, remembering Jesse's presence pressed against his back, holding him close, sharing breath pressed against each other. "I didn't tell him I survived."

Tracer balks and reels back, sitting up straight. "That's sad! Genji, are you trying to make me cry?"

"I am not." He disagrees, settling down. "He wasn't…too excited to see me."

She puts her head back down, pulling her legs up to her chest. "He seems nice." Tracer says next, instead of commenting on them, and Genji nods.

"He was." Genji's heart aches at the memory as he says those words again. "I don't know how he is anymore. We've spent as much time apart as we did together."

Tracer found her voice, and firmly states, "He seems nice now. He didn't have to let me bring his arm here, didn't have to talk with me, or comfort me." She bites her lip. "He's nice now. He might be hurt, but… he's still here."

XXXXX

"Any sign of him?" Gabriel asks as he walks back into Jack's office, having gotten an emergency treatment from Moira after he'd almost broken apart during their meeting, after McCree went and did that.

"Angela said he appeared in her office, cameras caught him walking around when Tracer met him. After that, she helps him go somewhere and we lose sight of them both. Seems she's keeping him off the grid." Jack says, seeming frustrated as he goes through footage on his table, fingers swiping through countless cameras looking for him.

"If it was Tracer, and he's off the grid, well, we could just ask her about it." Gabriel reasons, and Jack grunts.

"That was my next plan, but I was waiting for you to return to discuss the matter at length." Jack looks up then, and its unfair how handsome he looks, even with grey hair and frustration with Gabriel specifically clear on his face. "He's enhanced. How did he get enhanced?"

Gabriel put up his hands, trying to calm the man down. "Hell, Jack, if I knew I would have brought it up with you." He reassures the best he can, knowing his word has been misused a lot lately, especially knowing that he was lying.

"Was it Moira?" Jack presses on, disbelieving. "He came in last night and immediately got injections from her." He says, and Gabriel boggles.

"You were looking at the footage from last night?" He asks, shocked.

"Answer the question."

"No." Gabriel shakes his head quietly. "It's not an injection. She wanted a blood sample from him."

"Yeah." Jack leans forward. "So what was the blood sample for?" He raises an eyebrow, and Gabriel knows when he's caught.

He sighs, exasperatedly. "Alright Jack. Yes. We knew he was enhanced and we wanted a blood sample. But the enhancements had nothing to do with us."

"Did it have something to do with Talon?" He asks, seeming unhappy to be right.

"No." Gabriel disagrees. "He told me after his first attack- when he vanished in the hall after you first met him- that he got enhanced after the bust. Woke up much, much later in Albuquerque, in a place full of corpses."

"So why did you _really_ want McCree?" Jack asks, and Gabriel sighs, feeling every single one of his years. "Spit it out, Gabe. I need the truth from you."

He looks at Jack, and he really, truly, wants to spill the truth. Wants to tell Jack everything. Wants to have Jack and his confidence back. His faith, his support, his understanding and more.

He just wants Jack.

Instead he says, "I was investigating rumors of an enhanced man that Moira brought to me. She was concerned someone was using her methodology for other purposes. We made up a cover to ask him about, brought him in and told him to keep his status as an SEP knockoff quiet."

"You asked him to lie?" Jack asks, and Gabriel nods. "That explains why you two fought."

Jack turns on the footage, and he rubs his neck, his mark as he watches Jesse bolt out of the room, the man in black and white choking Gabriel after he emerges as well, letting him drop and then dropping to the floor, the entire thing soundless.

"Ah." He looks down. "Yeah, I did. I also hadn't realized I'd put him up in Shimada's room when his nose is what recognized me. Probably sent him down a rabbit hole. He was pissed that I asked him to pretend he couldn't remember me. But it does open up questions I can't comfortably answer."

"Like?" Jack presses, and Gabriel rewinds the tap. He pokes at his form.

"Ana doesn't know about this." He reminds. "About…me. About what happened to me." He looks at his hands. "He's similar to me."

"I've got that, Gabe." Jack acknowledges, sighing. "So put it together for me."

"Victoria and my grandson have the gene too." He says, finally spitting out an ounce of the truth, and Jack goes very still. His blue eyes are stuck on him, mouth held closed and Gabriel looks down, guilty that he has said anything of this. "That's why they cut contact. They learned from my ex-wife that they both have what I have. It's the only reason McCree is helping me. He tried to kill me in Deadlock Gorge. We've been butting heads this whole time. But he agreed to help me because, like Ashe said, he's got a soft spot for kids."

Jack seems dumbfounded, and Gabriel understands. He gets it. That's a horrific thing to imagine.

"I thought this would die with us?" He says, trying to recall the experiments more clearly.

"Moira showed me they're not just that kind of changes. Some were made to impact our gene line. So they could be passed down. And in my case they were." He scrolls back the footage, shows Jesse choking him, and rolls down his collar. "This isn't a hickey. I think Jesse was made with the express purpose of…controlling us. He has stated he was 'made for me.' Someone tried to replicate us, and…I'm sure you can figure out what they might want with us."

"That's unsettling." Jack states, rubbing his neck. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Gabriel shrugs, quiet. "Thought it'd only worry you. I was working on resolving it. There's nothing you can really do, Jack."

"It's wrong of Victoria to blame you for it." Jack defends him, and seems uncertain of what else to say.

"It's not my place to say that. They're her feelings." Gabriel softly allows, and Jack frowns.

"Gabe, I had no idea." Jack finally says. "So, why McCree?"

"I didn't know it was gonna be him." Gabriel explains, quiet. "I really did think that kid was dead. Imagine my surprise when he knows me by name and is real pissed to see me, we fight tooth and nail before he gets an advantage on me with the bite." Gabriel rubs his neck, laughing at the memory. It really was out there. "God. He was supposed to be in and out. I thought Moira only needed blood samples, then she drops the bomb on me she needs more than that."

Jack nods, and rubs his neck as he absorbs that information. Gabriel breathes in a sigh of relief; it feels good to have Jack believe him, to tell him the truth, even if it wasn't the whole truth.

"I don't get it. Why wouldn't you tell me? Why not come to me?" He asks, and Gabriel doesn't know how to answer that. He puts out his hands, and lets out a deep, shuddering sigh.

"Well, first it was wrapped up in hiring Dr. O'Deorain." Gabriel admits, careful by thinking of where each step would take him. "No one else has done work in that field since the doctors that made us. I needed her, knew she'd be unpopular, so I couldn't…exactly let you in on any of it. Victoria wants to cure both her and her son, so I needed a way to reverse engineer what I was." He looks to his hands.

"I didn't want people, my enemies learning that…my daughter and grandson inherited my condition. My enemies know what I can do. That was around the time Mrs. Lacroix was kidnapped. I didn't want anything to happen to them. So I gave her other jobs. Made her look…more legitimate."

Jack stays silent, letting Gabriel explain it, and Gabriel shudders before he does. "After Venice, once you knew about her, well. We were shut down. No money for research. Didn't have any reason to bring you into it then either." He gestures. "Plausible deniability wasn't enough. Needed you to…be able to say you had no clue what she was up to, and mean it."

He goes very quiet. "Frankly Jack, if it had been my choice, you wouldn't have had to hear about any of this. My condition isn't the super hero stuff you got. It's monstrous. But you know that." He looks at his hands and feels his talons come unbidden. "That's why Martha left me. She saw what I was. What I'd given to Victoria, and to her grandchild."

He's not even aware of it, but Jack has suddenly enveloped him in a very tight hug. He feels the squeeze around his midsection, and his arms move before his brain catches up.

"You are _not_ a monster, Gabe." Jack fiercely reassures, holding him tight, so tight that Gabriel felt suddenly fragile, like he could still trust this man with all his secrets.

"I dunno about that anymore, Jack." He admits, thinking to Jesse in the pool of his own blood, to all the experiments he's done on himself with Moira at his side, to how everyone in his life was leaving it if they knew what was good for them and all the lies he'd tangled himself up in.

"You aren't." Jack promises, letting Gabriel go to look at him in the eyes. "God, you are so _stupid_, and prideful. Of course I'd want to help you. But…it's just like you to put that much responsibility on your shoulders."

For a second, Gabriel leans his head into that crook of his neck, and lets them both feel like maybe things would all be okay in the end and this wouldn't all end in misery.

XXXXX

Jesse isn't sure what possesses him to head outside Lena's cozy quarters. He had sat there for a long time, staring at nothing and yet, everything inside himself that had brought him to this point, to hiding in the den of his enemies from the face he should have known but didn't anymore.

So he stands and goes through the door. He still doesn't know where he is, standing in another unknown hallway- this one without windows- and so he just picks a direction and starts walking. Apparently, Gabriel, Amari and Calamity were all looking for him.

He figured his chances were good Gabe would be the one to track him down, and the odds were that it'd be him or Amari.

The door opens before he can put his access card to it, and he's met with a shock of white hair, a pale face, and a short woman peering up at him.

It's hard to say at first, who she was. A deep part of him knew, but his eyes didn't recognize her at first, not when his brain had been seeing her faceless for years.

Neither he nor the woman say anything- as though both are unsure how to proceed from their standoff.

"Calamity?" He asks, hesitant, and she nods, dumbfounded, slowly stepping forward.

"Jesse?" Her voice is a lot smaller, fragile in a way that doesn't match his memories of her, but he nods, unable to lie.

"Think so, least I was the last time I looked in the mirror." He says, and she snorts, before she's moving forward, and he stiffens because he isn't sure how to place that on any of his memories of her that he has, if he's really got anything. She wraps her arms around him in a fierce hug, and he really isn't sure how that squares with any of his memories of her.

Red eyes look up, watery, and he can very clearly recall the face of the woman he tried to lay down and die for.

_The bust was expected, but none of them had expected it'd be like this, that it'd be Overwatch doing the busting._

_Ashe was meant to be where he was standing, but she'd pointed out that he needed to be holding down their sniper fire; otherwise everything would go to shit._

_She jumped at Reyes in a fit of anger, indignation and thrust her gun into the man's face. The man, literally a block of muscle and professional anger forced it out of her hands like a bully on the playground knocking a toy out of a toddler's grasp, and Ashe was in deeper than she could afford, her red eyes wide- scared._

_She wasn't trained in hand-to-hand as much as bar scraps and it showed. She was a good fighter, but not good enough. Not in the face of that._

"_Ashe!" He'd shouted, dropping from his perch as red eyes stared scared with her face determined and stubborn in the face of death at the gun in Reyes' grasp, and he punched Reyes with a harsh uppercut, the man's gun swinging from Ashe to him as the seconds ticked by and the man pulled the trigger._

_He doesn't remember the immediate seconds afterwards, just remembers the pain of lying on the floor, hot and cold and sticky and senseless. Remembers looking and meeting Reyes' uncaring brown eyes, remembers Ashe being handcuffed, the woman staring senselessly at his body._

_Her lips moving._

"_Jesse, no, Jesse, please. Don't leave me Jesse."_

_The woman who really just was a girl- the same one who'd been needing of family and love to fill up a hole in her heart that McCree had gladly filled had been crying, begging desperately for him to not be dead._

_She'd screamed when she was dragged away, and he was left on the floor, bleeding, in pain, numb and yet on fire._

The memory is raw but hazy, and Jesse's lips are moving when the woman just holds him tighter.

"I'm, I'm real sorry, Ashe. Didn't mean to get shot." The words come unbidden.

She gives a wet laugh. "Shut up, Jess. I know that. You shouldn't have done that." Her face is buried in his chest. "But you did. I didn't get why. I knew that losing you hurt, but I didn't get why you took that bullet for me."

Ashe pulls away, rubs her eyes. "Now I do. I…I get it now. N' I don't have words to tell you how sorry I am that it happened to you nor the words to say. How glad I am that you were in my life."

"Calamity," He says, because he doesn't know what else to say. She waves a hand.

"I…know. You prolly don't wanna think about all those things. Not when I got off easy n' you got shot." She gives him a self-deprecating smile, the way she used to when B.O.B. babied her in front of him, back when they were first getting into trouble together. She looks at his scar, really truly looks at it, and lifts a hand to touch it.

"I wanna kill Reyes for this." She mutters, and Jesse laughs.

"Mighta already tried." He says, breathless, and she snorts.

"Idiot."

"A lucky one."

"Still an _idiot_."

"But yours." Jesse finishes their old back and forth, and Ashe looks back up at him in shock.

"Would you be?" She asks, and he doesn't quite know if he would, if its what he wants, what he needs.

"I think I could be. Still won't date you, but," He eases in, and the shorter woman shoves him.

"One, I'll have you know I have a girlfriend now." She preens, and he shoves her back. "Two…" She pauses, thinks of how to phrase this. "I think, that I was so lost in not knowing what love looked like, I thought the only way for you to love me was romantically. Does that make sense?"

"It does." He understands perfectly. "Always told you that your folks sucked."

"They did." She says, voice wet. "You were more family than they ever were, Jesse."

The pieces click into place, and Jesse sucks in a breath.

He hugs the girl he died for tight to his chest, crying tears that he'd been holding for a decade. "God, you were so stupid. I shoulda been closer, my gun's meant for closer range anyways."

"I was the one who made that stupid call! _You_ were stupid to get in the way," Ashe argued back, shaking as she held Jesse. "Don't you _ever _do that again."

"Alright, Weez," He agrees, rolling his eyes, rubbing the wetness on his face away. "Not like I wanted to die then."

She pauses and glances up in surprise at hearing her old nickname, and finally releases him fully. "God." She murmurs. "I don't give a shit what Jack said. You ain't going anywhere." She harrumphs. "Not yet, at least. Him and Reyes can go deal with that mess yourself. But I jus' got you back, and there's plenty to catch up on."

Jesse feels all kinds of raw when she says that. "I ain't too sure I should stay here," He reminds, and Ashe holds up a hand.

"Reyes can kiss my ass, Morrison will have to just listen to me and Ana on this." Ashe disagrees, and Jesse swallows his pride.

"I mean Genji," He reveals his weakness, quiet. "I don't think I can face him. He helped me deal with…all of this, and to find he stayed away because it happened to him?" He looks down. "It's hard to reconcile."

Ashe pauses, and she puts her hands on his shoulders. "If you'd like, we can kill him together," She suggests, solemnly, before his face cracks with a smile, and she matches it.

"Nah, think I'll pass," He rolls his eyes with a playful smile as she lets him go, and nods firmly.

"That's good, I was worried about the future of my job security if I had to do something like that." She teases, grabbing him by his hand. "But, fuck Shimada. If he hurt you he can go through me. And he knows better by now than to try." She ribs him lightly, before pulling him into a steady walk. "So don't worry about him. I'm the boss of _him_ now. And you have to stick around because I _have_ to beat Ana at cards. Think with you on my side, I can finally beat her and Reyes."

Ashe was every bit as imperial as he remembered her, and yet, he doesn't mind it. Appreciates it at the moment, the way he was easily able to slide back into that role would have disturbed him if he wasn't desperately reaching for something to hold onto.

He says that next. "You know, most days I wanna kill you." And she only dampens slightly.

"What was that, anyways? I've never seen either Reyes or Moira do what you did. You still look a little green around the gills, Jesse."

"Moira can do this too?" He asks, absent, and watches Ashe grumble that she _knew the witch lied_. "I dunno how to explain it. Especially not right now. But I've got no promises that tomorrow I'll still be this nice."

"If you don't make sense, that's fine." Ashe assures him, and they stop walking as they arrive at a door. Instead of flashing a card, Ashe plugs in a set of numbers, and Jesse watches as the doors open for her easily. "I'm more than used to being told I don't make sense."

They head inside, and Jesse leans against one of the walls, and relaxes. Ashe tenses, but keeps her composure. "You're…melting?"

"Jus' call me the wicked witch of the west, or somethin." He mutters, and she gives a halfhearted smile. "I guess, yeah. Emotional exhaustion can lead to episodes, which lead to attacks, 'ccording to the Shimada doctor." He recalls people at the castle telling him about his condition after a few bad spurts.

"And this is an attack?" Ashe clarifies, and he waggles his hand in a vague wavy gesture.

"More the vanishing from earlier than the melting. The melting's more like…the buildup and the aftershocks. Along with the emotionally …drained way I feel or act. N' any the loss of reality." He grumbles. "Never had two attacks back to back before, though. Shouldn't have come here, really. What was I thinking?"

"So the vanishing." Ashe puts them back on track, offering him water that seems to come from nowhere, pulling him from the wall, towards a couch. "You didn't do that on command?"

He shakes his head, takes a few sips before he can't drink anymore. "No. That part of me, it does what it wants. It holds me together, and when it can't 'cause I'm going through a bit I jus…turn back into sand." He holds up a hand, and isn't really surprised when it melts before him. "Jus like that." He leans back as Ashe seems to understand that this was more serious than he let on, coughing up sand.

"Jesse, what do I do?" She asks, and Jesse can't think of anything to tell her, and even if he had something to say, he felt like he wouldn't be able to speak in the first place.

Whatever comes out of her mouth is lost as his ears close and his eyes close and blackness envelops him.

Blackness was preferable to nothingness, at least.

XXXXX

When Jesse wasn't at Tracer's part of the lab, Genji knew there was serious reason to worry. "You said he was melting earlier?" He asks, and Tracer nods, concerned.

"I didn't want to ask, he seemed like he was already struggling enough without me pressing too hard." She explains, looking around for clues, trying to figure out where he'd gone.

"He's already had two attacks, this is unprecedented." Genji murmurs, worry prickling in his stomach as he imagines Jesse reforming and nearly drowning in the family pond, him and Ha- the monster having to dive to rescue the semi-aware man.

"He stopped melting after talking to me some and relaxing, I figured if I left him there he'd stay put and I'd be able to come back." Tracer bit her lip. "I should have stayed."

"It's not your fault, Tracer." Genji tries to ease her. "He just…has moments where memories, and emotions hit him wrong and he gets caught in his head. It's been like this since I met him. His darkness; something he tries to hide from us." He rubs his hands, hating the way metal clung to metal and scraped. "Angela mentioned he started melting after using his powers to get around her. This was all probably brought on by stress."

He crosses his arms. "As long as we have his arm, we know where he'll turn up, if he did turn to sand a third time." He gestures to the arm. "But we shouldn't assume he vanished again. What was the last thing you and him talked about?"

"Ashe." Tracer recalls easily. "He asked me how she was now, we were looking at the photo of her in his wallet, I just told him they both seemed sad."

Clarity hits him. "He must have left to get caught by one of them. He might have gone out to find Ashe."

She bolts towards Ashe's quarters, and he's quick to follow.

Lena bursts through the unlocked door, and stops in her tracks, meaning Genji has to stop behind her frame in the door, and peer in.

Jesse's there alright, but Ashe is crying as she's holding him together.

It's a disturbing scene, with sand coming out of him, his other hand gone, breaking apart like a fucked up porcelain doll. His eyes are both closed, his breathing labored and his expression troubled.

"Lieutenant?" Tracer asks, hesitant, and she whips her head around to them.

"Tracer, Shimada," She tries to put on her angry mask, and fails, concern and anxiety bleeding from her like she had stab wounds all over her body. "Get Reyes. Get Angela. I don't know what to do."

"I do." Genji steps forward, confidence certain because this was Jesse and Jesse needed help no one else knew how to give him. "Tracer, go tell Angela we're coming to her. Ashe, lay him down. He's been worked up too much. He can resolve himself, he just needs time." He lets Tracer vanish from his side as he walks to Jesse. Ashe tries to get between them, and he levels her a look.

"He told me." Ashe wetly threatens.

Genji's expression is hidden from her, and he's glad, because his eyes are just as wet, from having Jesse so close, and in so much pain. "I'm the only one who knows what these are, and how to get him through them. He can hate me later. For now, he needs to calm down. So lay him down onto his back- I need to see the full damage."

She only stands in his way a second longer, before her desire to help Jesse wins out.

Genji looks over the damage, and breathes. "Alright. I think he's out of energy; otherwise he would have had an attack outright. Attacks are slightly easier to come back from since he's whole after he reforms, but we can still pull this back." He lifts Jesse up carefully, and Ashe takes his legs at his request, and they slide a blanket underneath him, before grabbing that to carry him on. "It might take him a day or so, but if we put him in the dark, in one of Angela's isolation areas, he should recover fully. My suspicion is that we've been dragging this out by continually putting pressure on those parts of him that trigger his episodes."

"I'm playing catch up here, what exactly are episodes?" Ashe asks, and Genji sighs.

"It's just what you're seeing. It's typically brought on like a panic attack, except he's a genetically engineered super human with PTSD. That's the best way to explain it. It's just a physical manifestation of a panic attack."

"Ah." Ashe understands, looking away. "I guess the bust woulda done that to him."

"What, exactly, happened at the bust?" He asks, and Ashe goes quiet.

"If he wanted you to know, he would have told you." Ashe says, voice low, and Genji wants to kill her for having the audacity to say that to him. "He was shot in the face by Reyes. I thought he died. Is there more to say?"

"How did he live?"

"I don't rightly know, Genji." Ashe grouses. "Like I said- I thought he was dead. Reyes shot him point blank in the face. Jesse was closer to him than Antonio was in Rialto. Again, if Jesse hasn't told you, I don't think he wanted you to know, and if you don't know it, why would I?"

"You knew him differently than I did." The photo in Jesse's wallet, Ashe's wallet is clear in his mind. "He didn't like to talk about it with me."

"Jealous, Shimada?" She asks, recognizing the tone too quickly for Genji's comfort.

He doesn't answer, so regardless of it all, they pull Jesse into Angela's office.

Angela is there, talking worriedly to Tracer, and they pull Jesse into the room, Genji tells Angela everything he remembers from Jesse's old routines, and she listens carefully, and together they slowly unpack Jesse from the blanket and start preparing to put him back together.

At the end of it, they sink Jesse into an isolation chamber, and Genji asks for some privacy.

Ashe is reluctant to give it, but instead Angela pushes her out of the room to discuss logistics of Jesse's care- and potential long-term treatment options, which Ashe was planning on taking over.

Genji was glad for the quiet; glad he was able to have one moment alone with Jesse.

He removes his mask, and climbs into the isolation chamber with Jesse.

The silence is overwhelming. Even during Jesse's old recovery, there was never just silence. Jesse would be talking, joking, telling him in no uncertain terms it would all be alright in the end. "_Jus part of me." _He'd echo Genji's words about how this wasn't him, when Jesse wanted to break down over the weight of his changes.

"This isn't who you are. It's just part of you." Genji says it now, to fill the silence, and looks at his metallic hands.

"This isn't who I am. It's just part of me." He says the words he told Jesse, about himself, and finds he doesn't believe himself. The metal is himself. He's a collection of parts chewed up and spat out by a monster and put back together not quite right, like a fucked up puzzle with pieces from another box.

He sits in the chamber with him, and tries to figure out when, exactly, he decided to think this was his fault, his fate. Why he said all those things to Jesse, for Jesse, and never applied them to himself. He's positive that Jesse is wondering if he meant them, or if he was serious. Can't imagine having to rebuild those walls, the foundations when it looked like all the old ones were built off the fleeting words of a liar.

Hates the monster even more. Hates himself just as much.

"I'm sorry, Jesse." Genji tells him to fill the silence, but the next words just make the tank feel that much more hollow. "It'll be alright in the end."

He puts back on his mask, hops out. Amari has arrived on the scene, and is talking with Angela. "How long do you expect him to be out?"

"He'll likely be awake in a few hours. He knows what this type of treatment is, though. He just needs to…center himself." Genji answers before Angela can try and explain, drying himself off. "And no, that isn't an invitation for you to go inside. He should be left alone until he comes out himself."

Ana gives him a cool smile. "I was actually asking for Ashe- she's ready to pull her hair out over this issue- she's likely pacing in Sojourn's office now. Though it is nice to see you soft about something, Genji. No one will be going in there, that's for certain."

"Where's Commander Reyes?" Genji asks next, because he was the one seemingly running this debacle, from wherever he'd holed himself up.

"With the Strike Commander." Ana explains, looking to the side. "They're discussing the finer details of his condition." She pauses, before continuing. "You are aware of their…differences, from the two of us, yes?"

Genji nods. "I didn't put it together at first, but…yes. And Jesse is…"

"Like them." Ana agrees, finishing for Genji. She folds her arms. "I can tell them anything you know, if you'd rather not report it to them, personally."

"He's been…enhanced, since before I met him." He nods his head. "I personally see a lot of similarities with him and Commander Reyes' abilities. He never disclosed details of how, partly because the memories are…traumatic, and he wanted to move on from it."

Ana gives him a sympathetic look. "He seems like he was important to you, Genji. Perhaps now that he's here, you two can be friends again."

He doesn't answer her with how unlikely that scenario is, but appreciates how kindly she tries to put it, well aware that she, like him, had left those she cared about behind for her own reasons.

Genji nods at her in respect, and walks back out of the hallway, needing to find some answer in himself for the empty hole the monster carved out of him, eating every piece of him that was good and loving.

He wants what she mentions, but doesn't think the man walking down these cold hallways of Zurich in winter, doesn't think Hanzo's gory murder scene stitched back together will ever be worth that, not ever again, not with how he was.

As he goes, he passes Ashe, tongue sharp as she ranted through the whole thing, Sojourn watching her coolly as the woman worked herself up and back down.

Surprisingly, Tracer's definitely been around here, he can tell from the vague charge in the air that tastes like the color blue to him- apparently few others could feel her like he could, though Winston agreed there was a taste to her quick blinks.

The only one who isn't, after he passes by Moira, calmly investigating a way closer without setting off metaphorical alarm bells, is Reyes. The man is nowhere to be found, and while he finds that odd, he wants to be alone right now.

Reyes can handle this mess himself- he's the one who made it, it'll have to be resolved by him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are at a roil, Jesses getting the nap he deserves. everyone else is wrapped up in their own messes. come yell at me on twitter @harmicist ;)


	5. Chapter 5

He's not in his bed back in the roiling heat of New Mexico or Arizona, and he's not somewhere that gives him away with any obviousness where he is.

That's a lie, but the moment he feels wetness and weightlessness he has the urge to cry that he shoves down. He has to open his eyes but he doesn't want to see Shimada castle. It had been too long to imagine that all that suffering had just been some bad dream.

Jesse doesn't want to, but he must.

Color him surprised when what he sees isn't the Shimada family sigil, or the beat up version he'd commissioned back in New Mexico when things had been real shitty. Nah, he was staring at an Overwatch logo, and with that memories begin flooding back.

Right. Reyes had found him out in the desert, searching for a cure. He sneers at the thought, stewing in the fluid as he thought his way through it from there.

His room had smelled off, like metal and anger and Genji, so he'd been off-kilter already, but hadn't paid it enough mind- not until Genji had come to haunt him. He sits further upright, as it makes sense. That hadn't been a haunting. That had been Genji, he recalls Gabriel informing him that the man lived. Worked for them now.

It doesn't sting so hard the second time he finds this information out. The revelation just stays there; hollow in his chest, and aches somewhere it has ached for a very long time. Genji left him too. Jesse goes to touch the aching thing, and is shocked to see he's missing that arm. He stares at the stump, before a distinctive memory of blue light and a young face and someone like him comes to mind.

Lena? The name rings in his mind and sounds about right. But his memory of her was a lot less clear than the memory of him and Reyes fighting. When had he met her?

His other finger stirs in the water as he focuses in on her, and then recalls it. Two attacks. He whistles, the sound vibrating. That was a first. No wonder he was in the tank. Jesse couldn't even imagine how fucked up he'd been.

The details are all hazy, but he's fairly certain they wanted him gone, then Morrison went and said something that hit him wrong, reminded him of something he wouldn't lay name to, hidden deep under the surface and Ashe showed her ugly mug in the door.

Except, for the first time, he had a picture of the woman to go along with the memory. Shock white hair cut asymmetrical, red eyes harried, wild; searching for him.

He can barely remember the words spoken, but he remembers her smell, perfume and gunpowder and the same damn soap brand she used decades ago and his face pressed into the crown of her head as he held her with a desperation that has long since left his bones and now feels foreign all over again.

The tears though, they were more familiar. He recalls sharing those with her as he held her close, held her tight, and thought of things he only could recall when he was breaking apart like that.

Jesse breathes out, firm. He holds that information within him; tightens himself back to his usual front, coils it all up like a spring and places it back in the dock he prefers it.

No.

He wasn't playing this game; he kept all that shit docked in himself for good reason. Anyone who had to worry about when they picked their scabs like they were playing Jenga and one wrong foray into a memory would send them falling apart couldn't afford to do that.

Coming here was a mistake. He definitely recalls thinking that, and saying that, because it was right.

He should have just killed Reyes and thought nothing of him. Jesse sits, pensive, in the fluid, letting himself lie back and float.

Instead he's gotten himself tangled and snagged and pulled in this direction, and that direction. There was the aspect of getting answers for what happened to him, between 19 and 21. There was the issue of Calamity and her missing face from his memories. Then there was the heartache and deceit with Genji walking around.

While he'd not known about it going in, when Gabriel Reyes had turned out to be the Reaper, he should have known better than to think this could have been anything but a clusterfuck.

He sits up again, rubs his temples.

Feasibly, he could worm his way out himself. Vanish into the night, slip right on out. He's not familiar with Zurich, but he's made his way around Europe before. Antonio never did like the competition, so he'd been careful. It was funny how Gabe had helped him on that issue, killing Antonio and all.

Only problem was, Jesse thought as his hand itched for a cigarette and he licked his lips, Vialli was an even bigger bastard.

Hence why he'd not taken up Talon's offer. He knows their games too well to think that they were interested in him as a person. Nah. They want a weapon to line their collection. He trusts Gabriel's cold interpretation of events just fine.

So he sits in Overwatch's clutches and wonders where that puts Gabriel, exactly.

Jesse doesn't know how long he's been in the tank, but he has little choice but to go out and face the world again. He steels his heart against Genji and shoves the idea of Ashe away. The world is too cruel to be so vulnerable- and Talons ears were everywhere.

He pushes the lid off, and climbs out carefully, soaked wet.

The room is a lot like the one back in Shimada castle, but without his companion to ease him back into the world. Instead, he eases himself back into his new role. Grabs the towel left for him, removes his waterlogged clothes and gets into the soft black clothes left out for him.

"You gave us all a good scare." Moira's voice startles him, but she dips out of the shadows, expression cool. "Most people left hours ago, once they reasoned there'd be no harm waiting until morning to speak with you."

"I have no way to tell time in there." He grouses, smelling Gabriel as he readjusts to the outside world, as his nose calms down from the overexcitement. "These are _his_ clothes, ain't they?" He mutters, holding the neckline away from his neck in distaste.

"That is part of the point of an isolation chamber, but yes." She shrugs, gathering her things. "I did not think you'd enjoy the hospital gown. Unfortunately, I only have access to Reyes' belongings. They'll have to do."

He has to admit she's hit the mark, and so he lets the fabric settle against his neck. He's not quite as bulky as Reyes, so it fits less tight and more cozy- cozier than he'd like them to be. Part of it was that Reyes smelled, at least in part, like _his_; his pack, his person, and his partner.

"Where is Reyes, anyways?" He asks, not missing the way her face twitched.

"Off getting a mission briefing." She murmurs, waving a hand to dismiss that. "The late hours are the ones reserved for our darker work." She holds up her instruments, and McCree frowns, but extends his arm, willing for her to take what she needed.

"So you work day and night? Can't be good for either of you."

Moira gives him a blank stare, and pulls away after taking several samples. "During the day, we are suspended, clinging to whatever remaining structures here we have. In the evening, we spend time with each other in my lab. We break for coffee, rest, have some sort of social interaction with others so that we aren't sick of the other's face. And then we work." She folds her arms. "I've been informed to offer you another place at our side in Talon. We could always use another member in our ranks."

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Reyes. Not interested in that leash. I make my bed elsewhere."

Moira hums, and then dips her head. "I'll leave you to it, then. The less time I'm in Dr. Ziegler's lab, the better." She carefully steps away, and places her samples into a cooler, vanishing through the door.

He rubs his hair dry in his older shirt, feeling the chill of the building sink in as he followed her out moments later, wondering where exactly she was going when he had questions for her.

Jesse balks when he looks down both ends of the long hallway and sees no trace of her; hell, he can't even sniff a trace of her darkness, as though she'd been swallowed up by the night.

He crosses his arm, and figures there wouldn't be harm to trying to find Reyes, as he desperately needs socks. The cold tile of the floor was a lot against his bare feet.

There's an imaginary prick on his shoulder where a mark would be, and Jesse flinches, looks around. "Genji?" He calls, the name raw on his lips, but gets no answer.

McCree keeps walking, feeling some kind of way as he holds his breath, trying to smell ahead, grasp whatever it was he was dealing with. His nose told him to head east, and so he obliged, slowly winding his way through the empty halls, trying to single out Reyes' scent.

He walks until he recognizes where he is- the positioning of the statue from this angle seems right- and walks back into the emptied out Blackwatch offices, cubicles emptied, computers unplugged and servers turned off.

Except for one.

Direction resolved, he heads towards the light and finds his quarry.

Gabriel Reyes is sitting on the floor; red eyes blank and body lose, as a young woman taps away at a computer in front of him. The woman turns and pops a bubble in his direction, before bringing it back in to chew. "You must be McCree." She determines, returning her attention to her work.

He's too shocked to say anything, but hums his affirmation. Squats next to her and runs a hand in front of Gabriel's face, only partly shocked when he doesn't even blink.

"I didn't want this recorded by Talon either," She admits, calmly. "He's just turned off right now."

"Turned off?" McCree drawls, and she turns to face him again, snickering at the accent.

"Listen, cowboy, if you're not interested in joining Talon, I'd recommend not questioning it." She remarks, leaning back. "And getting out of town before Vialli gets his hands on you."

"Vialli can eat my ass." Jesse slides his hand behind Gabriel's neck, and rubs the mark. Gabriel blinks, moans so roughly it's almost a growl. "Guess that Vialli did this to him, huh? He's only worth having as a weapon."

"Sounds like you disagree," The woman finally looks to them, irritable. "And that you could saddle up to Doomfist and make a good case against that."

McCree's face screwed up. "Doomfist? Definitely not- too much wanton destruction, no rhyme or reason to it. Conflict for the sake of conflict. I've worked too hard wrangling the southwest together to ignite another powder keg."

Her lips flatten. "Sounds like you know enough to already be on the council."

He shrugs. "I've worked _around_ them plenty. They like to have fingers in everyone else's business. But they're just the face of it, I reckon. You don't have this kinda tech and only engage in petty arms deals." With an unfortunate amount of tenderness, Jesse scoops Gabriel up into his arms, the man limp.

"What do you know, McCree?" She asks, and McCree shrugs as he stands.

"Enough to say I don't think you should be here, and I think I'd like it if you put him back the way he should be."

The woman huffs and stands with him. "Alright, caught me there. But I didn't do that to him. I just caught him before they assigned him whatever mission they were going to and had him escort me here."

"So who are you, exactly?" He presses, and she gives him a proud smirk.

"Sombra," She theatrically takes a bow. "Talon's latest recruit into the mid-tier echelons. They wanted me to hack into these servers, without being caught. I'm showing them just how good my skills are."

"I can't imagine that Vialli will take too kindly to you mucking with his toy gun." He points out, and she snickers, pointing a finger in Gabriel's cheek, the man unresponsive in Jesse's arms.

"Then I guess it's a good thing it's Maximilien bankrolling me right now." She gives a chipper smile. "Are you taking him back to his room? That's probably not a good idea, given that's where I found him in the first place."

Jesse pauses, because he _was_ going to take Gabriel back there, but the woman has no reason to lie to him, not when they'd both been open. He thinks, before it clicks. "You're the Los Muertos girl." He realizes, whistling. "Hadn't realized Talon was in the market for a hacker."

"Not just any hacker." She harrumphs. "One of the best. So, what are you going to do with him, exactly?"

McCree doesn't quite know.

"I get the feeling his friends shouldn't see him like this." McCree reasons, and the girl blows another bubble in his direction, nodding like it was obvious.

"Neither should mine." She comments, putting her computer away, unplugging all of her machines with efficiency and care to put everything back. "The obvious doesn't tell me where you're taking him."

"Nowhere, right now." He says, almost defensive. "I just don't get how he's like this."

Sombra stretches, and puts her equipment in her backpack, before slinging it over his shoulder. "Don't worry about it too hard. He mentioned to his handler that you didn't like him much."

"Course he did." McCree rubs over the patch again, and finds that there is a patch of skin that pokes blood out. "They drug him?"

The woman sighs, gives him a long look. "Yes, they did. You're asking a lot of questions for someone who isn't supposed to like him and doesn't want anything to do with Talon."

"He's my business." Jesse says louder, and bares his teeth carefully.

Sombra raises an eyebrow. "Fine, fine. Gabe's your business." She mocks, cricking her neck. "I don't trust you, but since we're both the only outsiders here, I figure you won't be telling anyone about me."

"And Gabe's business is his own." Jesse agrees, cooling. "He's made his bed. And you and I come from the same world." The woman gives him a smile, and McCree frowns. "So, what's wrong with him, exactly?"

The smile breaks, and she sighs. "Fine, I didn't want to explain, but _fine._" She crosses her arms, stalks around the room until they were facing the other way, with her getting closer to the door. "Basically, he was supposed to go on a Talon mission tonight. Probably one that he didn't want to, but he's in too far for that. So they slowly…hm, bring him into compliance. Drugs, manipulation, and when they have the time for it, memory alteration." She pops her bubble gum at him, grabbing a few more things off the desk as he follows her with his gaze, turning as needed. "Which is why I am not in the business of getting too far on their bad side."

"So interrupting his mission and hijacking him for your own purposes isn't getting on their bad side."

"Well, you're the one holding him, aren't you?" She snickers, before waving a hand. "It's not a perfect process. While Gabriel does seem pretty much…controlled, if he was given an order he's not ready for, he will still refuse it. His mission was to break into someone's office and extract some data. I followed him to the door, where he stood still and refused to move forward, and just…took the reins for my own purposes after turning him off."

"How did you turn him off, exactly?"

She lifts up a used needle. "Got this from the scientist's bag as they were leaving. Wish I knew the exact process, but I'm afraid I don't." She walks over and taps Gabriel's nose. "And now he's off wherever his head goes when Talon doesn't need Gabe."

"If his friends can't see this, and neither can your friends, then I guess he's coming with me." Jesse curls the body closer, seeing she didn't have more answers. "I trust you can get yourself out fine."

Sombra gives him a Cheshire grin, waves her hand, and vanishes into the night, fading into her surroundings.

Cloaking tech. Great.

Gabriel is mostly limp in his arms, expression blank. He waits a few moments to see if the woman makes another appearance, but the silence stands.

Slowly, he puts Gabriel's feet down on the ground, holding him up. Gabriel's knees buckle at first, but his hands reach out, attach themselves to Jesse, and the man rights himself. "So you can walk." McCree determines, huffing. "Follow me."

He extracts himself from Gabriel, and doesn't even glance to make sure he's being followed.

The quick movement that's followed by steady heavy footsteps tells him what he needs to know without ever looking back.

Slowly, they retrace Jesse's steps, and wind back up at the room Gabriel assigned to Jesse. He's able to slip inside as sand, and opens the door for Gabriel to come in. Gabriel stares owlishly at him for a moment, before Jesse sighs and roughly pulls him into the room.

Gabriel's footing is unsteady, and he winds up colliding into McCree. Jesse shoves him off, and the other man trips, being sent to the floor. He looks nothing more than a broken doll, his brown eyes downcast and dark.

McCree stands over him for a long moment, something heavy in his chest as he stares.

"For years, I'd envisioned you as this monster." He says, face cast down over Gabriel. "The person that ruined my life. Almost killed me. The one I'd vowed revenge on."

The broken doll doesn't answer him and the feeling in his chest is too familiar, too much like his own to ignore.

"But it looks to me like the only life you've managed to really destroy is your own. And now you're left without people, without purpose." Jesse says to the darkness, something shifting inside him. "We're not dissimilar in that aspect, are we?"

He walks forward, and hoists Gabriel back to his feet, holding him by his hand. Gabriel is pulled into Jesse's space, and Jesse lets him rest against his chest, face curling against Gabriel's neck, and biting, refreshing their pack mark.

Jesse breaks away, licking his lips, as Gabriel's fangs reveal themselves, and his eyes turn glossy and red. "I can be your person, Reyes." He murmurs, low and dark as he gives the man his neck, not letting himself be driven away by the potential consequences, or the way his heart didn't want to give this to Reyes. "And you'll be mine."

They entangle in Jesse's bed, Gabriel laying a dark claim to Jesse, Jesse letting the scent of Gabriel's empty head fill up the room that tasted like anger and metal and Genji.

Lets Gabriel replace it all with teeth in his neck and claws dug in tight to his clothes and warmth shared desperately underneath the covers.

XXXXX

Morning comes and Jesse McCree is missing again.

Jack would have called it, but he was tired at this point. He'd been looking all night into Gabriel's condition, reaching back out to SEP doctors who have all mysteriously turned to smoke and dead ends. Even his contacts in the US army told him he was looking for something that was gone.

That might be true, and the world might be better for it, but damn it. Gabriel Reyes had passed it on to his family, meaning the gene wasn't something that died with them.

He sighs, and stands, rubs his eyes. Gabriel had told him that this would be a dead end, but he'd needed to be sure first.

Needed to see how badly Gabriel had been blocked into a corner to understand.

Moira O'Deorain looks more and more like the necessary evil Gabriel said she was, and furthermore, had defended.

Jack leans back in his desk, and contemplates his and Gabriel's past. Contemplates on any paths forward.

Wonders where Gabriel is getting his funding since Blackwatch had been shut down.

It doesn't sit well with him, his knowing that there was a glaring hole in Gabriel's story. Blackwatch was shut down; Gabriel had no funding. And yet…he'd managed to go get Jesse McCree and had the materials and ability to begin work on him.

Where was he getting that from?

Last night, he'd told Gabriel that he wasn't a monster. Gabe had weakly responded that he himself wasn't sure about that anymore.

Jack put his face in his hands, and wondered what that meant. What it was that Gabriel was doing behind his back that was giving him money.

Remembers too, Gabriel's shock and concern upon learning that he'd been watched on the cameras.

Guiltily, he tells himself he was just going to look for McCree on the cameras.

With a sinking suspicion that he will be finding out, for better or worse, what it was Gabriel was doing at night. He pulls up the hospital's cameras, and discovers McCree pushing his way out of the chamber in the wee hours of the morning. His clothes were understandably soaked, but he looked cognizant, at least.

The man shivers, as it's undoubtedly cold on base. There's a towel and black clothes left out for him, clothes that Jack immediately recognizes as Reyes. He averts his gaze as the man changes on screen, and watches as he jolts.

Dr. O'Deorain comes out of the shadows, and the two speak, McCree seemingly as surprised by her presence as Jack is. His expression is grainy in the darkness, but still distinctly mistrustful, adding a grain of truth to the fact that Moira had nothing to do with his enhancements.

She pulls out empty syringes and takes blood samples, and he rubs his arm as she pulls away.

Her face is shockingly blank. It almost makes him uneasy, because despite the fact they don't interact much, he still knows her face is generally more…expressive of her intellect. They clearly say their goodbyes, and Moira leaves the room, Jesse following her moments after to find she's not in the hallway at all.

Jack gapes, rewinding the hallway footage to catch her vanish and reappear at the end of the hallway in a puff of smoke.

Interesting. He keeps the footage trained on Jesse, as the man seems to look at the statue, and carefully realign his course. He's walking funny, and that's when Jack sees he's not wearing socks or shoes. He makes a noise- man was probably cold. What is interesting is the fact he was using the statue as a means of judging distance and place in an unfamiliar location.

Jesse manages to walk his way back to Blackwatch's part of the base, and Jack notices what Jesse had easily- something's on inside the room. He switches the camera, and discovers something that makes him ill.

The camera is static footage- McCree doesn't appear within, and the light plainly visible from the outside isn't on the inside. With just a hint of guilt, he turns on the secret camera footage, from the bugs he placed within. The benefit is that there's sound.

A stranger is at the computer- a young woman he doesn't recognize at all. He can't see McCree's face, nor hers. But he can see Gabriel, expression vacant, y-spread on the floor, head down. There's the sound of a bubble popping.

The bug is too far away to pick up the conversation, but they obviously talk. McCree seems as lost as to Gabriel's condition as Jack is- running a hand in front of the blank face and seeming concerned. Jack can relate, trying to understand what had happened here. They talk some more, and Jesse reaches to the mark- the one Gabriel had mentioned- and Gabriel blinks, expression twitching, before fading back into blankness. He sees Jesse's frown, grateful to rule out Jesse's compliance with whatever Gabriel was now.

The two keep talking, before Jesse ultimately winds up picking Gabriel up off the floor. That's where Jack knows Gabriel isn't aware in any regard. He lets the younger man hold him, limbs dangling loosely.

The woman, busy at her computer, stands, and Jack catches a glimpse. She's a young thing, with a terrible haircut and Talon's unfortunately familiar red emblem decorating her uniform. She does a bow for Jesse, and pokes Gabriel's cheek teasingly.

They say a few more things Jack can't here, when Jesse's voice gets louder. "You're the Los Muertos girl." The whistle is loud, but then their voices dim again.

He runs Los Muertos through his memories, and recalls that they're a gang based in Dorado, Mexico. McCree calling her _the_ Los Muertos girl implies familiarity or fame, and the fact he doesn't know the name of the woman implies the latter.

"He's my business." Jesse's firm voice breaks Jack out of his thoughts, and he turns back to the footage, watching as Jesse bares his teeth as he holds Gabriel closer, protectively. The woman looks almost annoyed. She had started moving around the room, getting closer to the door, away from the camera. Jesse turning to watch means that he can fully see his face, once he's fully facing the camera.

Means he can read his lips. "So interrupting his mission and hijacking him for your own purposes isn't getting on their bad side." That sends a jolt of terror down Jack's spine, but Gabriel's face is blank, his eyes empty- but now that he was closer, at the camera's level, it's plain to see that they glow red.

McCree waits, his expression troubled. "How did you turn him off, exactly?"

Sombra enters the frame again, this time finally close enough to the camera that Jack can make out her words. "Got this from the scientist's bag as he was leaving." That ruled out O'Deorain, and a shiver runs up his spine. "Wish I knew the exact process, but I'm afraid I don't." She walks back over, and he can see a needle in her hand. Can see her use a finger to tap Gabriel's nose.

He watches her step back, and McCree face is almost a snarl. "If his friends can't see this, and neither can your friends, then I guess he's coming with me." He sees Jesse curl the body closer, almost protectively. "I trust you can get yourself out fine."

The woman vanishes, the cameras picking up a distortion that fades within a few moments. A few minutes later, the static footage is replaced with live footage, and McCree is left holding Gabriel for a few moments, tense. He then sets the man down, and Jack is surprised when Gabriel stands on his own after stumbling, clinging to Jesse. "Follow me," Is heard from the bug as Jesse walks out of the offices, and Gabriel obeys like a lost baby duck, unsteady on his feet. He watches carefully, tracking where McCree took Gabriel, and finds that they end up at Genji's old room. Jesse turns to sand and vanishes under the frame, but the door opens moments later, and Gabriel goes inside.

The door shuts behind him, and Jack is left ill. He cannot follow them inside- there are no cameras in the rooms.

He needs to figure out what Gabriel had been doing before he'd been 'hijacked.'

The camera footage is messed up where Sombra has been working, so he doesn't trust that he can work backwards.

Instead, he works from when he last was sure of Gabriel's location: his office.

Gabriel wanders out, seeming as lost as ever. Jack is shocked as he sees Gabriel turn around, and reach out to the door. But he stops before he makes the final motion. He puts a hand to his face, covers his lips, before he schools his expression, shakes himself off, and turns around to walk down the hallway. Midway down, he coughs, form shuddering. He bends, hand catching himself on the wall- fingers clawed.

Out of nowhere, Moira has appeared, her expression concerned. She helps delicately lift his hand before he can scratch the wall, and then sticks him with something.

At first, Jack goes ill, making his own conclusion in spite of what the woman had said in the tape, but Gabriel's form shudders, and he coughs black sludge. Moira wipes it off his lips, and stays with him until the form is still. Gabriel stands again, and he looks cognizant as ever. Moira crosses her arms, clearly unhappy about whatever he says.

Jack is surprised as Gabriel gestures to the camera, and Moira looks up at it, raising an eyebrow, and the two nod, walking towards Gabriel's office. They both vanish inside it, and Jack sits there watching the door, pensive.

After some time, the two leave the room. Moira and Gabriel are frowning, but the two walk back to Gabriel's private quarters together. Jack is confused for only a second, but realizes quickly enough the purpose of that- Moira had to have grabbed Jesse clothes.

He watches, almost entranced, fast forwarding through several hours, before Moira finally comes out. It's well past closing of regular hours, around midnight. She makes her way to Ziegler's office, pausing briefly at the dip into the communal area used most frequently as a kitchen, before her expression dims, and she goes blank again and she brushes past the door.

He pauses, switches cameras, and is surprised to find Ana inside the doors, tense, two cups of tea out, only one in her hands. The other grows cold on the counter.

That…was strange, but a question for another time.

He watches her go to the office, and lay in waiting.

He rewinds and goes back to the room, watching for what Gabriel did.

Gabriel's expression is now tellingly off, but not empty as he'd been on screen with McCree and the mystery woman. He walks with purpose, back to Jack's office. He stands at the door, for a long time. The footage is spliced in with the static footage, and it looks like Gabriel walks away, but he recognizes it for what it is now.

He nurses his feelings of uncertainty in his chest, anxious.

He messages Ana to come to his office, messages Sojourn to go to Genji Shimada's old room- their missing quarry is there.

XXXXX

Gabriel wakes up, for the first time in many years, curled into the arms of another person. His head is on that person's chest, and a hand is wrapped into his overgrown hair, and their legs are tangled in a familiarity that he doesn't feel. They're both dressed, so that was a bonus, but to be in this man's space- for this man to be in his- is strange.

He moves to extract himself, and the man growls lowly. The hand in his hair grips it tighter, and Gabriel has to bite down a moan, legs curling up against his hardening cock.

That was a discovery all right. His ex-wife would never have dreamed of growling or hair-tugging as turn-ons, but the rush that went through him at both was impossible to ignore.

His brain puts together the situation upon smelling the man. "McCree." He smacks the figure, wiggling with his increasing need to be released. "Wake up."

Jesse lets his hair go and Gabriel is able to scramble away. He grumbles, sitting upright, eyes glowing orange in the darkness of the room. "Y'awake, boss?" He asks, voice obviously rough from sleep.

"Obviously." Gabriel snorted at the idiotic question, putting his beanie back on, trying to reclaim some of his borders back for himself. "Not your boss."

McCree stretches, yawning wide, fangs out. "Right. You hired me, though." He reminds, licking his lips; his fangs disappearing once he was done. "But ya weren't awake last night. More what I meant. You were pretty fucked up last night."

"Hiring is such a stretch to describe that," Gabriel says, monotone, rolling his eyes as he threw a pillow at the man with a lightness he hadn't felt in years. It does disturb him, that McCree and him are suddenly…_friendly._ But Jesse doesn't give him anything but a cool smile.

"See if I'm ever worried about you again." Jesse rumbles, putting the pillow down on his face. "Your Talon business is your own. Don't make me get involved."

That sent up a brief alarm bell that was quickly silenced and controlled. "I hadn't realized that you thought you were involved with that." He runs his hands on the sheets. "I should get going- I'm in PJs- wait; are you in my clothes?" His train of thought is interrupted when McCree gets up and his clothes sag.

"Moira brought them to me last night." He explains, cricking his neck and then his back. "Nice of her, it woulda been awful cold walking around last night with wet clothes or the hospital gown."

Gabriel frowns, tries to picture that. "You've lost me McCree. Why would you be in the hospital?"

McCree peers at him oddly, before he shrugs. "Going senile, old man?" He asks, removing the shirt and fishing one out of his bag, shoved in the corner. Gabriel waits for an answer, unimpressed with the jab, and looking away when McCree revealed his toned belly and fuzzy sex trail. "I had back-to-back attacks. Got locked up in the pretty blonde's office, I reckon. Woke up last night late, after Moira gave me clothes, I went out and found you and some woman with a truly unfortunate haircut in the offices. She said her name was Sombra? Any of that ring a bell?" Jesse says, getting dressed, heading to the bathroom.

A revelation like that should panic Gabriel, but it doesn't. "The start does. The rest…not so much." He rubs his forehead. "That's just how time moves these days. Sounds like you were in Angela's office. Sombra…" He thinks for a long time on her name, trying to place her face. "I believe she's Talon's latest recruit into the mid-tiers. Moira mentioned her to me, something about her doing work for Maximilien."

Jesse nods, agreeing as he returns from the bathroom, pants changed. "She more or less said the same thing. Personally, the omnic in the Monte Carlo is a real sleazebag and I don't like that he's taken a shining to a hacker."

"You've met him?" Gabriel pauses, raising an eyebrow, and Jesse nods, terse.

"I've had dealings with all of Talon, dipshit." He grunts. "Some more personally than others. It's a requirement of traveling overseas in my arena. Vialli and I have butted heads more times than I can count over jurisdiction for arms deals, same as I did with Antonio- thanks for getting rid of him, by the way." Jesse stretches. "They likely didn't realize that the shithead running Deadlock these days and their new enhanced toy were one in the same." He says, sarcastic. "Same as you didn't know."

Gabriel isn't particularly fazed by any of that information. It does make a good deal of sense, and it makes good sense especially considering McCree's profession and refusal to hear anything out regarding Talon.

McCree hands back the clothes he'd borrowed from Gabriel, and Gabriel mindlessly removes his PJ top, quiet. McCree looks like he wants to say something, but its swallowed whole by the fact that they've both already seen each other at their barest, basest form.

The moment passes, and with it, the tension. Gabriel is back in his clothes, and Jesse is wearing something more suited for him. He's still missing the arm, but he doesn't seem bothered by it.

The more Gabriel thinks on it, the more he recalls: his tender conversation with Jack after Jesse had vanished, his seeing Moira afterwards, and then going to receive a mission briefing in his room. That marked the end of his memory, and that was just something he accepts with a heavy heart.

He's aware that they're picking away at him. He holds himself together as best he can, but he sometimes feels like an Amy Winehouse vinyl being scratched on, repeating the words that _love is a losing game_.

Gabe wasn't just doing this for himself. He was doing this for his family. They all know full well he has few choices. So to take him over like that, meant they were worried he wouldn't be able to stomach whatever it was they were doing. Then there was the issue with the woman, but Gabriel didn't mind petty squabbling, or Maximilien testing his latest find on Gabriel.

"What'll happen to me, exactly?" Jesse asks, and breaks Gabriel out of his reverie. "Ashe…wants me around, I think." He scratches his head. "She seems…grown, now. In a way she wasn't before."

Gabriel pauses, really thinks on the woman he dragged kicking and screaming out of the desert and into the light. Thinks of who she became.

They've been on better terms, but he really does think that she turned out for the better.

"Ana'll listen to whatever Ashe wants, so long as you're not an active threat. Morrison won't like it, but Ashe'll make it worth his time." Gabriel evaluates for him, and Jesse, while still wary, seems to relax slightly.

A knock comes from the door, polite. "Commander Reyes? McCree?" It's Sojourn, and Jesse seems wary of it, so Gabriel extracts himself from his stupor and walks to the door. He rubs his eyes as he opens it.

"Captain." He greets, calmly. "What brings you down here?"

Sojourn frowns at him, and he realizes she shouldn't know he was here.

"I was sent down on behalf of the strike commander. We were looking for McCree, who vanished from the medbay last night." She looks inside, frowning. "And is here, with you."

McCree pats himself down, stepping out. "I wanted socks. Y'all know how cold this place is at night? Moira was the only one nice enough to bring dry clothes and she's about as kindly as a snake in your boot."

Sojourn gives him an odd look, obviously experiencing whiplash at McCree acting as the taller, exceedingly masculine version of her partner and good friend.

"Moira is a bit _off_, but she typically tries." Gabriel defends the woman, quiet, rubbing his face. "She wasn't thinking about socks- you should be grateful she thought about boxers."

"_Ah_." McCree rubs his head as he says the word like he suddenly understood something. Gabriel goes warm, realizing that might have deeper implications about his first run in with Reaper. Remembers Moira looking blankly at him when he'd needed a pair and she'd not thought of that small detail. "Regardless, I tracked down Reyes here for a pair. Didn't get one, but I did get a cuddle buddy."

Sojourn's eyebrows are practically at her temple. "Duly noted, didn't take you for a cuddler, Gabriel." She slides into a smile. "If that's all, McCree, I'd like to bring you to Dr. Ziegler, get you checked out. Gave us all a scare, yesterday."

"That will not be necessary." Jesse coolly interjects, shaking his head. "I am perfectly capable of telling you yesterday was a fluke, admittedly a bad one, but a _fluke_ nonetheless."

Sojourn blinks, shakes her head. "Necessary or not," She puts her hand up, conciliatory. "Ashe put the request after Shimada tipped her off that the other night was unusual for you. At least go tell Angela and Ashe that you're okay. Morrison and Amari need to occupy Reyes' time."

"What else did _Genji_ tell y'all about me?" Jesse says, irritable but keeping his temper in check. He folds his arms, walking out of the door behind Sojourn, relieving Gabriel of anxiety about if he was that… easy about following along.

He's left alone as Sojourn shoots him a confused look before she vanishes with Jesse, and Gabriel is stuck with the knowledge he'll have to go see Jack…again.

Gabriel feels the weight of Jesse's words hit him. He'd long since guessed that Talon was in his head more than metaphorically, but… to have all that happen and not remember any of it. To feel less than complete horror upon learning the depth of it? It was previously unfathomable, and yet, it was the reality.

He understands that Jack and Ana want to see him, but he's unable to go. For now, he can only return to the bed, to the soft clothes that smell like Jesse, and curl back up, chasing comfort and safety from the things chasing after him.

This room, this one moment, had been a warm protection against the uncaring cold and growing shadows and the uncertainty of the future that he knew, deep in his core, was already decided for him.

The past year and a half had decidedly been his fall, his proverbial wings burning as he'd flown to close to the sun, and his fingers clawed at the sky, the only thing between him and his all consuming death; or worse, being caught in his lies.

Jack doesn't trust him anymore. Hasn't for some time, and god, he has his reasons not to, and Gabriel just keeps feeding him lies. Ashe would say, if she were here and hadn't left him to the wolves, if he wanted to get out of the hole, he needed to drop the shovel.

But he isn't even holding it- he never has. He swears. He's trapped in the coffin below, scratching, desperately scratching, his voice gone hoarse from screaming.

In spite of the fact he had his treatment just last night, he knows, he feels his hands turn to black talons, and black sludge grow thick in his throat, choking him as black tears glob up his eyesight and blind him.

He curls up on the bed of his enemy like it'd give him shelter, like Jesse could protect him, _would_ protect him, and just struggles to breathe.

Gabe can hear Moira's clinical analysis in his head; these attacks are brought on by your emotion, Reyes. If you want to control them, you must control yourself. Thinks to the pills he sometimes takes with Moira to avoid those pesky things but he always comes off because he wants to feel _something_. Anything is better than the emptiness those bring.

He's never had control over this, though. Not on the love that he feels for Jack Morrison, who believed in him until he didn't and god damn it all, they had fallen so far apart that Jack feels the need to fact check his stories that are lies and he sees that he has reason to not believe a damn word out of Gabriel's dying lips.

He cannot breathe; he cannot control his emotions. He can't even control himself, anymore. Not really. Not when he knows, for certain, that Talon can take his body and do whatever it was they wanted with him.

Jesse's voice is what he hears in his head, as he suffocates in darkness, the void consuming him.

_Have you ever tried not trying to hold that control?_

The thought is absurd, but he can feel the life draining out of him.

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

Maybe he can't make this all right again.

Maybe it will have to be enough that he tried.

Gabriel Reyes lets go of his control, and like he'd released the rope on stage, the curtain closes down on him, bowing at the end of his final act.

He is left to be embraced by the shadows he'd fought in all his life.

XXXXX

Now that he knows the way, its not surprising that he finds himself back in the pretty blonde's office. She's a petite thing, and Sojourn nods her head into the room, letting Jesse show himself in.

"Hello, Jesse, my name is Dr. Ziegler, you gave us all a good scare yesterday." She says, nice enough. "I just want to ask a few questions about all that. Agent Shimada told me some details, but this is a private record and I just want to have some kind of…protocol, if it happens again."

"It was a fluke." Jesse says, too firm, before he rethinks his words, and lets out tension in his chest. The woman before him is made of softer things than Talon or Deadlock. He can afford an ounce of honesty here, he thinks. "I can usually handle myself better than this. The situation…" He gestures around. "It exceeded expectations. I distrust Gabriel, can't really…remember Ashe, apart from… that day. And I wasn't even aware my…ex would be here."

Dr. Ziegler looks at him funny, and Jesse gestures to the frame. She turns, and puts it together. "So, the instance was brought on by emotional trauma?"

Jesse sighs and holds his hands up. "You're onto somethin' there, but with that outta the way, I can assure you that it won't happen again. It was already a rare occurrence, I just needed the time to recover."

"Well, that is good to hear, but all the same, I just want to ask a few questions." The doc still gestures to the examination table, quiet.

"I don't do doctors." Jesse tries to excuse himself by way of avoiding, but the woman gives him a gentle look that sends him to the table anyways.

"I won't touch you if you would prefer not to be physically examined." Dr. Ziegler allows, putting her hands up innocently. "Agent Shimada informed me…of a difficult past with that."

"Did he?" Jesse mutters, feeling something unpleasant bubble up inside him. "Did he tell you how many times he helped me through things?"

"He hasn't told me much about the nature of your past relationship." The doctor tries to soothe, and worsens it instead.

"Guess he was able to move on then," Jesse murmurs, smoke leaking from his lips, a light dusting running off him. He wipes himself off, and makes a face. "Fitting. I can see that. New life, new people. He was always so good with people."

Dr. Ziegler looks a bit sad, but doesn't comment on Genji. "I'm very sorry to hear about your past trauma with many of the people here, but that aside, it'll be alright, McCree. You have my pledge as a doctor here that no one here will cause you harm."

Jesse thinks back to Morrison's disapproval, to Genji's new form in the photo; but he won't speak his vulnerability there into existence. "Alright, doc. What all exactly do you need to know?"

The conversation after that is boring and clinical. It's not that Jesse is cagey, but that he's careful. At the end of the day, this woman was a doctor, and Jesse wasn't a big fan of those. At least Moira had the decency to be creepy up front; this front from the blonde was more worrying.

When it's done, Angela gives him back a clearance card, with a stern warning to come in if he had any further difficulties with his being.

He reminds her that he's dealt with this since he was in his early 20s. She gives him a sympathetic look he hates, and prepares to send him on his way.

McCree ducks out the office door easily, but he hangs on the doorframe for a second. "One sec, doc, any idea where I might find wherever Lena took my arm?"

She perks up, obviously relieved for the excuse to change subjects. "Winston's office is nearby- I can walk you over to him."

They briskly depart from the medical office, and walk down the hallway as a pair. "Thank you for showing me the way," Jesse keeps his manners in tact as he tries to figure out where they're going. "I've sort of been flying blind walking around here the past few days."

"No one showed you around?" The woman asks, and Jesse shakes his head, the woman pursing her lips in discontent. "Commander Reyes should have at least given you some sort of assistance, barring that, Captain Amari could have as well."

"The whole idea was that I was supposed to be in and out." He reminds, and Angela breathes out a short breath of frustration through her nose.

"I disagree with all of them on that." She shakes her head, looking down. "To not include Ashe in the discussion was a horrible oversight."

"I was the one who said no Ashe." Jesse mutters, giving her a side-glance. "I genuinely just…didn't particularly want to invite that into my life. She made her choice, and I made mine." He struggles with that for a minute. "Now I don't know what I want. I had a…imprint of her and then I actually spoke with her and it's different, now." He rubs his neck, trying to find words.

"What was that imprint?" Angela asks, quiet, the two walking alone in the hallways that were pretty abandoned.

Jesse swallows, wonders if he should say it. Recalls with clarity all those night terrors of faceless Ashe standing over him and shooting him with Reyes behind her.

"Nothin' good." Is what he winds up saying, unwilling to expose that much of himself here, in the open, to the hall of his enemies who aren't really even that now; but instead strange bedfellows, no stranger than it was when he'd chosen to entangle himself in Gabriel as he'd done.

XXXXX

The evidence is compelling enough that Ana doesn't want to murder Jack for spying very explicitly on their friend. That doesn't mean he won't hear more on the subject later, but there are more pressing matters at hand.

Ana and Jack sit together in the strike commander office, Ana looking at the door, Jack looking to the photos on his desk, both of them ignoring the empty chair in the room.

"Commander Reyes," Jack says into the comm. "Please report to my office, _now_."

"Jack, it's been 40 minutes." Ana points out, expression unreadable. "We have to assign someone to go get him. He's not left McCree's room, no?"

"But we know now that just because the door is there doesn't mean he can't get inside." The words sit heavy in his chest, pressing down on him with worry like weights. "We don't know for sure that he hasn't left somehow, purposefully avoiding he cameras. Remember, he pointed them out to Dr. O'Deorain himself. He knows he's up to something."

Ana seems unhappy with his answer, and he cannot blame her for that. "In the meantime, we should properly question McCree. He was there last night. He should know something about it- and that can get us started while you alert someone to track Gabriel down."

Once this leaves this room, there will be no backtracking from it- they both know that.

"We bring McCree in, then we try and find Gabriel." Jack says instead, making Ana huff, leaning back in her chair and looking to the window on the other side of his office. "We can't let this get too far out of our hands, Ana."

"I'm just worried it already is, Jack." Ana says, pulling out her comm. "Ashe, I need you to bring McCree to Commander Morrison's office."

"We'll be right there, Captain," Ashe smoothly replies, and Jack truly appreciates the way she doesn't question it, even though he knows she wants to bang him over the head with something hard. Gabriel, for all his faults, does know how to train good agents. Shimada and Ashe were some of his finest work, but Blackwatch as a whole had reliable talent in it.

It takes her 10 minutes, but then again, the base is large and McCree can be hard to pin down.

She walks behind him, and his arm is reattached. He doesn't seem to want to look at her, but she fixes Morrison with a glare, and then tempers it, turning tail and leaving, white cowboy hat covering her exit.

McCree looks up at them from under the rim of his black hat. "Well, to what do I owe the honor, ma'am," The man says to Amari, meandering to the seat.

"Well, Jesse," Ana starts, eyes flashing to Jack. "We'd like to talk to you about yesterday."

Jesse tilts his head forward, frowning as he sits. "I've already discussed it with the doc; I can't think of any other way to phrase it so folks get it. It was a fluke. A particularly nasty one, but it won't happen again. No need for y'all to worry about lil' ol me."

"That isn't the part of yesterday we want to discuss." Jack intones, voice rough. He turns around the display, showing a clear image of Jesse McCree holding a particularly dazed Gabriel Reyes in his arm.

McCree looks at the image, and his previously easy-going expression slowly turns stony, body relaxing into the chair. It was easy to forget, with all the surface level similarities to one of his senior operatives, that this man dealt in these rings all the time.

"Been spying on your bud, huh?" McCree points out, lifting an eyebrow. "Not saying you don't have a reason to, but," He chuckles, brown eyes meeting Jack's, teeth flashing in a way that told him this was calculated. "Y'all have certainly fallen out."

"Talk, McCree." Ana cuts in, tough. "Why were you _really_ brought here? I am certain that the United States government would love to have you in hand."

He lifts up his hands, in a mea culpa gesture, before lowering his fingers and tightening his grip. "Relax; I'm gonna talk. Any loyalty on my part to Reyes is through a very strained lens."

"You remember the bust, then." Ana reasons, coldly.

McCree shrugs, leaning back, fixing her with his one eyed stare. "I remember enough. I won't lie, parts of it I don't remember, and I never will. The years afterwards are much the same. Brain damage does tend to do a number to a person. But, no, I knew that man's smell the second he showed himself, disguises or no."

"Disguises?" Ana asks, surprised, and Jesse _grins, _revealing proper fangs, long and intimidating.

"I didn't lie, ma'am, the Reaper showed up in Deadlock Gorge's only diner and asked me about a bomb." He says, innocuously, and there's a beat, just a beat, where it doesn't make sense, but then all the pieces line into place, and it must show on their faces because he tilts his head, shrugging. "So you didn't know about his extracurriculars. Funny, that."

"Reyes is–" Ana starts, but isn't able to finish as Jack growls.

"The Reaper."

McCree lifts his hands congenially, easygoing as he slides into his role. "Figured you wouldn't like that none." And that is an understatement, as Jack feels betrayal grow inside him, festering like a wound, that Reyes had lied, and lied, and lied, and had the audacity to push back against Jack's attempts to unveil him, unmask him, had dared to be hurt by his line of questioning.

Jack's the one who should be hurt.

"So what was last night?" Ana points to the screen, continues the questioning and McCree shrugs again.

"Beats me- really. I walked in on it halfway through." He moves Ana's hand out of the way to point at the woman. "She's a hacker from Dorado. Real well known in crime circles. Does beautiful work. Even better considering people, even in the circle, think she's a collective, not a person."

"She works for Talon now." Ana is unimpressed, and Jesse nods, thoughtful.

"Someone that good at vanishing themselves wouldn't be easy for them to pin down." Jesse admits his personal opinion. "Not unless she wanted them to, which I'm fairly certain she did. Seems like she has her own agenda; though she won't be happy with me if she finds out I told y'all about her. I'd keep it off electronic books for now. It was your systems she was after, but not on Talon's time."

"We don't need to worry about her right now, we need to talk about Reyes." Jack cuts in, finding his voice and his anger in spades. "Why did he want you, really?"

"Fairly certain he didn't want me." Jesse reluctantly says, frowning coolly. "If I'd been anyone else, I'd be in pieces right now, I reckon. He wanted my blood, bones, skin, but not me." Ana looks queasy, but Jack won't protect Gabriel's condition now.

"Why?" He presses, and Jesse sighs.

"After I outed Reyes for being Reyes, and we scuffled, I got the upper hand. I woulda been happy just shooting him, but he made that difficult, so." He flashes long fangs. "I gave him an ounce of venom. Relaxes the target, few more…things. The things I've found out about the project that made me all those years ago, tells me I was made for you two." He points at Reyes, and then at Jack. "But Reyes keeps yammering when I really don't care for the man. Eventually I make him spit it out because I don't wanna hear the slimy fucker's voice."

Jack prepares for the truth, figuring that Victoria and his grandson were only part of the equation. Prepares for anything.

McCree leans back. "He tells me he's sick, and he needs healthy enhanced blood."

Somehow, he'd not prepared for that.

"Sick?" Ana asks, breaking its toughness to reveal an ounce of concern, and Jack thinks back to black sludge rubbed off Gabriel's shuddering form in the camera.

Jesse nods. "Reckon its what most of the failures died with," He mutters, eyes going distant. "When the body can't handle what's been done to it. The form breaks down, you weaken, and eventually, yeah. You die. Saw plenty of bodies that had turned to goo and guts." He grimaces. "But frankly, I was fine with Reyes dying. Figured that not telling you," He points at Jack, "His business as Reaper was as much as a favor as any he'd get from me. But then." He rolls his eyes, scoffs. "He mentions it's not for him. Its for his family." Without asking permission he takes out a smoke, lights it. "That twisted my arm, didn't it? Neither those kids asked to be enhanced, same as me. Neither should be worrying about a grisly death over their shoulders. So I agreed, with one condition. I wasn't going to Talon's headquarters, 'cause I knew they just wanted my blood and bones and guts too."

"So you're brought back here." Ana frowns. "Then what happened?"

"It really was just supposed to be one night." Jesse sighs after taking a long drag. "We thought he needed my blood, but O'Deorain corrects him. If it was just in his blood, all he'd need was a transfusion. But it's a lot more deeply embedded in him. She asked I stick around for a few weeks as she collects several different kinds of samples from me." He closes his eyes. "I was supposed to stay put, but I wasn't going to be pinned down in the halls of my enemies. Little did I know a little birdie," He laughs, the sound hallow, "was hanging around where I walked to clear my head. Genji saw me, and knew me well. The cat was out of the bag, and it was a downhill spiral since."

"Just for our knowledge, Jesse," Ana asks, knowing that she and Jack already need to talk just about this. "Please tell us what happened from your perspective. We find that…in times where we need to know how much we've been lied to, we should go back as far as we need."

McCree breathes out smoke, settles into their chair, gearing up for a longer story to be told. "Well, where would you like me to start?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's been a hot minute. Been a little busy recently, though! I also have added another chapter, mostly to give myself some breathing room. Next chapter is going to be dealing with a lot of things, and nothing seems close to tied up yet. 
> 
> I hope y'all are enjoying this as much as I enjoy writing it.


	6. Chapter 6

Interrogation only lasts another hour or so, and despite some petty comments from Jesse or Jack about one thing or another, it finishes mercifully enough. Jack thanks him for his cooperation (which is dumb, as Jesse really never implied he'd do anything but cooperate.)

And then they'd done him a disservice and put him in handcuffs, which he got out of in all of the minute it took for them to leave him altogether.

Ana had mentioned to Jesse that Ashe would be by for him, but never let it be said that Jesse McCree would wait for such a thing.

He'd gotten enough of their tail end conversation to know that Gabriel had gone missing from his room, and they were searching for him as calmly and quickly and _quietly_ as possible. They were under the assumption that Gabriel was a monster hellbent on destruction, and maybe he was, on another day. Ashe wouldn't be by any time soon to get Jesse, that much was certain; she was likely busy working Gabriel's newly made case.

Jesse rubs his neck in pain, grimacing as he feels the phantom echoes of his bond with Gabriel.

No, he knows exactly where Gabriel is. He just hopes that getting him out in one piece (more than Jesse could ever say for Gabriel) would make up for having told the whole truth like that. But really, he hadn't expected the response to instantly go cuff him and go try and track down their loose end.

In hindsight, he probably should have known. Jack had looked unsurprisingly angry, and had smelled outright furious, a pungent scent that's only beaten in vileness by that of the long rotting dead.

He finds the nearest vent, and cracks his knuckles, stretching himself out. "I would have hoped to have learned the layout a bit more first, but." He shook out his hands, taking in a deep breath. "That I can feel you'll have to do."

He turns to sand and dust and vanishes into the ventilation, well aware that they'll never find Gabriel, not in the hole he's gone into now, not without the abilities Jesse has as Gabe's person.

It takes a bit longer than it should, but Jesse eventually pops out of the vent beside the bed in Genji's room, and he reforms with a stretch, eyes turning to the covers, before he pulls them back with a clawed hand.

Blackness had sunk into the bed, staining it. Jesse runs his fingers over it, and looks to the door; they'd undoubtedly been here already, and had already left, when there was no distinct sign of Gabriel. The door's wide open. The place's trashed. But they'd just not known where to look.

"C'mon Gabe." Jesse urges now, pressing down into the black wetness in the sheets. "I'm here now."

The bed produces a wet, clawed hand, dripping black smoke, and Jesse grabs it tight, pulls him up out of the fibers. He pulls until the black stain has lightened considerably, and the dripping, melting form of Gabriel Reyes is held against him, indistinct apart from the talons that dig in hard to his clothes.

McCree scoops him up, purring out of concern for his person, as he worries over Gabriel.

It takes a long moment, but Gabriel's face reforms, coughing up sludge as black and red eyes open to find Jesse.

"What're you doing here," Gabriel asks, voice slurring, and Jesse sets him down on his feet, relieved.

"I felt you." Jesse explains, quiet. "Now c'mon, we're going to somewhere safe."

He tries to walk away, but Gabriel remains rooted in the spot. "I need…Moira." He manages to say, and Jesse groans.

"We _can't_ go to Moira." Jesse mutters, picking up the stubborn man and walking for him. "They've probably already got her in custody, or she's hiding out somewhere." He presses Gabriel against him, and Gabriel finally chooses to hold onto him, rather than hang limply. "Either way; she's unavailable. But I know where we can go."

They make it to halfway to medical, and then Jesse takes a sharp turn where his memories lead him. The path winds and twists considerably, but he winds up exactly where he wanted to.

He sets Gabriel down on the floor, before slipping under the door in a quick movement of sand and dust, quickly opening it, and pulling Gabriel inside as he reforms.

Jesse slams the door shut with a nod, pleased with himself, before he turns around and immediately feels all of that good feeling slip away.

Two sets of eyes stared at him and Gabriel, the other man hanging loosely from his neck. One was Lena, surprised to see him, but exactly the picture from his memory, while the other was relatively unwelcome.

"Jesse." Genji says now, like he has the right to say anything at all to him now.

McCree raises his hackles; his walls, bares his teeth and holds Gabriel tighter, protective; possessive. "Do _not_ call my name." Jesse hisses, his fangs elongating as he backs up towards the door.

"Is that- what's wrong with commander Reyes?" Lena asks, hands up, looking scared at Jesse's aggressive front.

He moves sideways, making sure he wasn't even looking at her, focusing all his hate, all his rage on Genji. "Nothin' he's gotta know about." Jesse growls, snarling. "Fuck are you doin' here, Genji?"

"I live here." Genji responds, managing to get under Jesse's skin with just a single phrase in a way that he'd not realized was possible. "Jesse, I _understand_ that you're upset with me."

"You _understand?_" Jesse laughs, hollow, glaring him down across the posh room. "I reckon ya don't, otherwise you'd be stayin' as far away from me as you possibly could, or not callin' what I feel 'upset'."

Genji's face was stuck behind a metallic visor, and that explained why Jesse couldn't smell him, could only smell him in the- _his_\- room. He seemed to struggle for a response for a moment, before he tries again. "Jesse, I was trying to give you space." He gestures around. "No one comes here! I don't know why you're here."

"Reckon it has to do with why you're holding Commander Reyes." Lena cuts in, approaching him carefully. "Jesse, were you trying to hide him here?"

"I just needed him away from the hubbub for a second." Jesse answers Lena without breaking his gaze from Genji. He sets him down on the floor, the man's expression empty. "Lots of things are wrong with him, Lena, but he has to be able to calm down." With Gabriel safely down, McCree lowers himself as well, keeping his gaze and anger focused, protective of _his_ person when the one who broke Jesse was only a couple yards away.

Silence reigns for several long moments. "Jesse," Genji tries, and McCree bares his teeth again.

"You are dead to me, Genji." Jesse drawls, eye flashing a bright orange warning. "I mourned you at your grave in Hanamura."

"For what it's worth Jesse, I was very nearly dead." Genji tries, careful. "What couldn't be salvaged was replaced with mechanical parts. Now I am what you see before you." He takes in a deep breath. "Forgive me that I didn't want to see you as a killing machine."

Lena almost does a spit take, and Jesse breathes in, angered. He slams down his prosthetic. "I know it's just the arm," Jesse says, but he breathes out smoke. "But you're the one who told me this all was just part of me?"

"It's a single limb, Jesse." Genji says, cold. "Not even my eyes are my own. Half of my organs are replacements with _fakes._"

"You knew I wouldn't have cared." Jesse hisses back, "You knew it wasn't just the arm, or the eye. It was all of me. I loved you, Genji, you were my _mate_."

"And what was I supposed to do?" Genji growls, responding to anger with anger. "Crawl to you with my mangled body still in repairs? I couldn't even speak at first. It doesn't mean I don't love you."

Jesse jerks away at those last words, taken aback. "You don't get to say that to me now." Tears temper his anger; "It's been _how_ many years now, exactly?"

Genji steps back too, standing on his feet like he wanted to flee, wanted to be anywhere but here. Lena looks about the same, caught between a rock and a very awkward conversation to be a voyeur on. "I'm sorry for not contacting you," He says, hands down at his sides. "But it wasn't out of any malicious intent. If you're angry, you should be angry at the Shimadas."

"I _am_," Jesse hoarsely responds. "Don't get me fucking wrong here, but, I," He struggles for words, and finds the crux of them somewhere in the hole in his chest. "Genji, you _left_ me."

"That's seriously how you're going to see it?" Genji scoffs, turning his head up as Lena quietly tries to excuse herself, blue light zipping past them all to the door, and through it. "Like I left you?"

"You weren't intending on finding me again, were you?" Jesse finds the words, but Genji falters, chokes on his excuses. "Answer me! Were you ever gonna come for me. Or did you choose this, Genji?"

"I…" He swallows. "I was going to. Not while I was here. But, after I left."

"But _when_ would that be?" Jesse presses back, shaking his head. "It's already been years, Genji."

"After my family has paid in blood." Genji answers back, hateful. "They deserve what's coming for them, and I would bring it to them."

"How long, would that take?" Jesse trembles at the question, not wanting to think about how many years he'd already spent alone. "If it took another 5 or 10 years, then what?"

"I would have found you still." Genji says, resolute, expression unknowable behind the metal mask. "But there's no use for what ifs. You're here now; you know now."

Jesse looks down at Gabriel in his lap, and then back up at Genji. "So what now, Genji?" He asks, unable to find any other words with his emotions this caught in his throat. He'd thought that having Genji's life be thrown at him would be the end of his journey backwards through trauma, but Genji wasn't done with him yet, it seems. "Since you're the one here who gets to make these choices."

Genji pauses, recognizes the hardness on Jesse's face, recognizes him swallowing darker words like taking a bitter pill, hears the sour words come out from his mouth. "God, Jesse." He starts, answering anger with anger. "You…" He cuts himself off, lowering his head. "Now… we can catch up." He tersely finishes, "If you want."

Jesse doesn't even know what to say to that. "Genji," is all he can form, before he ducks his head back to Gabriel, holds him up like a shield, like he'd covered the scent of anger and metal with him the night before.

It's like that's when Genji finally realizes they have an audience. He stands, steps back, fists his hands. Jesse looks up at him, anger forgotten entirely in the face of raw emotional damage.

Neither of them say anything, before Jesse finds his anger once again, the emotion his old friend, an old set of gloves that fit just right. "So that's just, it, huh?" He lashes back out. "I'm not allowed to be angry at you? For the choice you made for both of us? I get it, maybe you couldn't have come to me then, but years have passed. I woulda been glad to hear that you'd lived any of those times. But I learned that you'd lived from the lips of my sworn enemy. And you lash back at _me? _And then you say that we can just catch up?"

He lowers the bandana around his neck, shows off Gabriel's work. "Yours scarred over years ago. Gabe's gone and put his there." He presses further. "There _ain't_ no catchin' up. I know now what you've done, and you prolly already knew what I was up to. So fuck right off Genji. What I wanted obviously wasn't important enough before. It sure as hell shouldn't be now."

Genji's face is unreadable beneath the mask, but the tension in the room is palpable.

It breaks. The door opens once more.

A white hat pushes the door open, and Ashe comes in. "Jesse, we all knew you could break out of handcuffs, I knew how and I ain't even enhanced, but did you have to," She stops, pauses, assesses the situation fully.

"Lieutenant, I was trying to say," Lena's voice, worried, comes clear behind her. "It's not just Jesse."

"Shimada." Ashe tilts her head, stilting further when she sees the other person in the room. "…Reyes."

"Ashe." Genji says, unhappy, pulling away from the fight with Jesse, banking his anger and his hurt and everything else beneath the cool, chrome veneer.

"Would one of you like to explain yourselves?" Ashe turns between the two of them, voice no longer any shade of exasperated, just tense, expectant.

His own anger is the only thing Jesse can smell, and so he spits out his truth. "I brought Gabriel here to give him a minute to breathe, ran into _him_."

"Morrison and Amari are both looking for Reyes on account that he is a traitor." Ashe grinds out; her grip on her gun tight as Lena gasps and Genji stiffens. "Jesse, I can only talk you outta trouble for so much."

Jesse's eyes flash orange at her as he defensively holds Gabriel. "If Morrison was confident you'd believe all of it and still be comin' at this like y'are, he'd have shown you the video he had. I feel very little for him, if anything at all but you will not hand him over to Morrison like this."

"Video?" Ashe says instead of, 'continue.'

"Lieutenant, you were just saying he was a traitor." Lena points out, but Jesse raises his hand at the same time Ashe did, an echo of the other despite all the years they'd spent apart.

"Reyes is just a pawn." Jesse grouses, since he doesn't like it as much as any of the others, in fact, he probably likes it less. "Arresting him won't get you what you want. Talon is usin' him because he's useful, no more, no less. But it's like a Hydra. Cut one head off, there are two more sprouting."

"You know an awful lot about Talon, Jesse." Ashe points out, shifting her hips, and Lena bites her lip, looking down, while Genji stays still.

"It's only natural, Ashe." Jesse remarks. "Same field. Came with the territory. All dealings in Europe n' parts of Africa have to be brokered through them. The Italians especially have especially butt heads with myself before." He flaps his hand leisurely. "But that ain't important. Morrison knows already I've dealt with Talon, so does Amari. What's important is that Talon ain't after Reyes as a double agent; not really. There are infinitely better options that wouldn't be so conspicuous. A janitor, an intern, someone you can miss. Not the head of Blackwatch, who's under intense scrutiny. Not the geneticist under public fire for her paper." He pauses, letting them absorb all that before he reveals his trump card. "They're after them, but especially _him,_ as a weapon."

"And _how_ did you reach this conclusion?" Ashe asks, tilting her head just so, red eyes narrowed as she looks down at Reyes over the bridge of her sharp nose.

McCree raises his eyebrow at her, before he lets Reyes go altogether.

The man yelps, obviously not having expected such a sudden release, but pours out of his arms like a liquid, spilling onto the floor and spreading like black tar.

"He's dying, Ashe." McCree sharply tells her, standing to his full height, refusing to be cowed under her, nor Genji, nor Reyes. "He's not a person I'd defend under any other circumstances." He taps the scar on his face with his pointer finger, and Lena turns green at the obvious, sudden connection between the two of them. "Dying men are weak, desperate things." He turns to Genji, and feels the venom in him overpower him as he says, "Things that are empty, things that are ready to become someone else's monster. You can do it to yourself, or the one that comes across you has a, heh, _blank canvas_ to work with. Shape somethin' they like outta your not-yet corpse."

Genji stands. Jesse keeps his stare even as the man quickly walks to the door, pushing past Jesse, then Ashe, and then finally Lena, who looks like she wants to say something, but can't find the words.

With that problem gone, he looks back to Ashe. Her white face has lost any and all color in it as she stares at the floor where Reyes is a wound in Overwatch's very foundation. "How long has he…?" She asks, voice shaking where the rest of her cannot, and McCree shrugs.

"I unno why y'all are asking me. Apart from our dramatic, hm, introduction," He admits, stretching, before he pulls Gabriel back together, clawed hand pulling clawed hand up from the hole he'd fallen into. He lifts him up, pulls him close. "We met when he tried to drag me to Talon. If I'd had my way, he'd already be dead. But I didn't, so now he's my business."

"And the mess with Shimada?" Ashe presses, a tad gentler on that issue, flickering to the door. Lena shifts, feeling the echoes of their argument, and Jesse releases a shuddering breath.

He contemplates his words for a second. "I am sorry it got done like that." He admits, careful. "I've never been one to make those kinds of arguments publicly," He gestures with his hand, and looks down at the one on the floor. "If he'd come to me himself, maybe I wouldn't be so angry. But he didn't. I learned he'd lived from Reyes after the smell of his room had started to drive me up a wall that led to that rather overdramatic series of attacks. I believe he approached me, but he never followed up." He clenches his fist, before he kicks away the prosthetic. "After that shitshow, I think we're done. Said one version of what needed to be said. I sure as hell don't plan on seeking him out again. Seems like that's fine with him too."

"Hey, how you deal with your business is your call," Ashe defers, calming down. "But Reyes is also my business. I can't just let you take him while he's under investigation, not from all of us."

Jesse rubs his temples, shifting Gabriel to do so, the man hanging to him a little tighter at Ashe stating her intentions. "You're missin' the point. I've got no issues with him gettin' what's coming. Never have. My original intentions were for him to _really_ get what's been long overdue." He let that sit. "Ashe, what I'm sayin' is, is that the things you fear, the things you're fighting against- they're all already inside. And we've got no idea who they are."

"They're Reyes and O'Deorain." Ashe crosses her arms, but her confidence has fallen back.

"They ain't the only ones." Jesse disagrees, mild. "Reyes is gettin' Intel from someone inside the walls. At least one of your medical staff is a double agent- whatever was given to Reyes last night was in a syringe from y'all- not Moira. Someone helped another person, named Sombra in. She knew all of the plans for Reyes last night, enough to intercept him and use him to her own ends."

He looks down at Reyes, and hears a rumble. "Double agents among double agents; typical," Gabriel grouses as he struggles to stand straight, "I still don't remember meeting her last night, Jesse."

"You wouldn't, old man." Jesse brushes him off, letting him stand on his own feet as the man attempts to maintain some sense of pride. "You were gone." He waves a hand over his head and whistles to emphasize the point.

"I remembered most everything else. I lose track of things…well, after you're in Dr. Ziegler's hands." Gabriel grunts, folding his arms as he finally solidifies again. "I am sure Jack is _thrilled_ that I've gone missing, Ashe. While I'm also certain you're not inclined to tell me anything, think you could swing an answer on if they've caught Moira yet?"

Ashe looks positively stony, before she turns away, glaring at the floor.

"Of course they haven't." Moira appears from nothing, brushing her front down as purple smoke disseminates around her, and Lena yelps in surprise. "You forget Reyes; my abilities are yours, improved." She turns to Ashe, and coolly nods. "Hello there, Jackrabbit, aren't we in a pickle?"

Ashe turns red, and then angry. "I am _not_ Jackrabbit, not in front of McCree, and certainly _not _when I'm about to bring you into custody. Just because you and Reyes are in hot water doesn't mean I am."

Moira shrugs, leisurely sitting on Lena's sofa. "It's just a nickname, Ashe, and not an embarrassing one either. I'm well aware that you are to bring us both in, but I refused to be brought in by Amari." She hisses out the name, glaring at the wall, tapping her long nails on the sofa with increased speed.

Jesse sees Gabriel shift next to him, rubbing his neck. "Ouch. Right. That."

"Who gave us away, anyways?" Moira asks, calm, but shooting him a glare regardless. "McCree? Was it you? I know you have no loyalty towards us."

"Morrison caught Gabriel on camera with another Talon operative." Jesse disagrees, shrugging. "A woman calling herself Sombra. He shook me down for more details, but hey, I just met y'all."

Moira's lip curls upwards. "So they decided to have you break into Morrison's office last night, grand. Fantastic." She leans back, rubs her temples, as Ashe and Lena turn to each other in confusion, Lena backing out of the room in a flash of blue light moments later.

"Break into- is that why I can't remember it?" He rubs his head, and Moira nods pensively.

"Recall, Reyes, we informed our minder of Morrison's suspicion." She tiredly explains. "He likely wanted you to eliminate any potential secret cameras around base. Like the one that resulted in getting us caught." She glanced away. "But, of course, you and Morrison had just made up." She scoffs. "So of _course_ you wouldn't. Half-wits. All of them." She looks to the ceiling. "I suppose Tracer is going to retrieve Sojourn, Ashe?"

Ashe doesn't answer her, just turns away.

Reyes walks to Moira's side, and settles down on the sofa, sitting down, and staring at his hands. "What's making up with Morrison gotta do with anything, Moira?"

"Talon can exploit your emotions, Reyes. Anything that makes you more inclined to accomplishing their goals." She rolls a hand, lazily. "They were before you had even officially agreed to joining."

"Right." Gabriel mutters, breathing out black smoke. "When you took me with you to fucking Monaco."

"Are you seriously going to try and play it like you only joined Talon recently?" Ashe breaks in, furious. Moira and Gabriel turn to look at her blankly, before Moira shrugs.

"It's hardly playing if it's the reality." She politely disagrees. "They contacted me through Amélie Lacroix shortly before Gerard's murder. She, by the way, is alive and well." The revelation makes Ashe cough violently, listening intently as Gabriel and Moira argue.

"_That's_ what you would call well?" Gabriel drawls, raising an unimpressed eyebrow.

Moira sends him a withering glare. "Compared to her darling husband, 6 feet under, yes. I consider it an improvement."

"Then I guess I'm fit as a fiddle." Gabriel unintentionally punctuates that point with a cough, black sludge leaking out of his mouth. "A pinnacle of health."

Moira rolls her eyes. "Always dramatic, aren't we? You're dying. She's stable."

"She's an empty shell." Gabriel argues back. "I doubt anyone else would call that fine."

"And I cannot help that. That was how she was before they hired me. I can only ease her pain." Moira snips back, crossing her arms. "You are only so lucky that they already believe you are one too, Reyes."

He gives her a crooked smile, and Moira huffs. "We've cut it close." She agrees, fingers tapping her arm carefully. "But it's been the best we've had."

"Save it for the interrogation, but what's all the reticence with Amari?" Ashe cuts in, crossing her arms, regaining her composure. "I thought you liked her." Moira makes a face, and looks to the floor. Gabriel gives her a sympathetic glance, and sighs, deciding to answer for her.

"I'm sure you recall Moira's late night habits." He begins, carefully. "They'd been chatting with each other for several months, when…"

"She used me." Moira bitterly states, glaring a hole into the floor. "And then said it'd been a mistake." She spits the word out, closing her eyes. "What I had with her before then, that was enough for me. She took that next step, and I let her in, foolishly. And then she left with what she took from me, her _mistake_, and cut all ties with me."

Both McCree and Ashe made a face as they put two and two together easily.

"Ouch." McCree says, before he can help himself, and Moira turns her heat on him, eyes suspiciously glossy. Ashe matches that glare, as Moira wipes her eyes with a delicate motion of her left hand, before she lowers her hand again.

"I need not your pity, McCree." She sits tall. "She made her choice. I was only stupid enough to believe I hadn't made mine." She takes a deep breath. "At the very least, we're all to be on trial like I had one."

"Again, I'm not involved in this." Ashe disagrees, and Moira laughs, shaking her head.

"Oh, Jackrabbit." She smiles, expression and tone sardonic as she looks to the ceiling. "If only you knew how bad the Eye could make you look."

Gabriel, Jesse, and Ashe all turn to her in shock.

"Eye?" Gabriel asks, confused, and Moira nods.

"Gabriel, we both know that I don't let you in on everything, but surely you knew that the idiots in Rialto, Maximilien, the Vishkar brat, nor the second Doomfist ever had the vision that Talon set?" She murmurs, quiet. "The current Doomfist, certainly, but… he wasn't originally in Talon. Maximilien discussed our…curious benefactor over wine, along with Lacroix." She hums, closing her eyes. "I presume that's why he hired the hacker who has gotten her nose into too many other pies."

Ashe is mollified, and Moira continues, sighing dramatically as she glances to her watch, before she looks back at the ceiling. "Maximilien, like myself, is pragmatic at heart. Though his goals are…far more mundane, than my own, I can respect his devotion to them. He and I naturally have conversations, as we work on Lacroix. I had to ask, how on earth had he backed me into such a narrow corner?" She laughs.

"One second, I'm a researcher with a promising future, the next, I'm enemy number one, a precursor to a new omnic crisis. Well, he _enlightened _me that while Talon certainly capitalized off the impacts; the strings were all in alignment. They knew of Reyes' condition, knew it'd kill him eventually. Helped push my paper along without earlier peer review to help rephrase my more…hmm, careless word choices." She looks down. "Ensure that I _pervert_ Angela Ziegler's work, in her words, so that I make an enemy out of her. Gets it to Gabriel's desk. Then fund people to fail repeating my results so that I am fired in disgrace, with Overwatch taking a particularly negative approach to me." She breathes out. "I loathe to imagine the domino effects they can cause in your life Ashe, given what has happened to myself and Gabriel."

Gabriel looks at his hands, clawed, and blackened. "Domino effect sounds right." He says, voice becoming harsher, eyes slowly turning red.

"You aren't looking well, Gabriel." Moira murmurs, tapping her fingers on the couch again, seeming to grow impatient. "They take much longer and there won't be enough of you left to interrogate."

Jesse finally finds his tongue. "He'll be fine. I already pulled him out of the bed fibers. I can…keep him in one piece." He finds it weird to say that, so he elaborates further. "I was made for him and Morrison."

"There is so much to unpack there." Ashe states after a long minute, Moira looking at him curiously. "But no time to." She stands. "Sojourn's here."

The door opens, right on schedule. Lena stands behind, awkward, as Sojourn walks in, calm. "We can go with a fight, or without one." Sojourn states, calm, looking at Gabriel and Moira as they sit on the couch.

Moira looks to Gabriel, and then to Jesse. "Can you assist him?" She requests, quiet, and though Gabriel's face indicates his protests, Jesse stands easily, and offers him a hand up. The man stares at it hard, but gives into weakness, and takes the help.

Red iris' and black sclera look hard at Sojourn, and she struggles to keep an unemotional face, staring at Reyes' revealed state. Jesse is only moderately better, his eye glowing orange to match Reyes, the two sliding together like a pair of gloves.

XXXXX

The only kindness Sojourn gives them is a quiet route to Jack's office, and no one lingering too long on Gabriel's face. Jesse's to his right, and the only thing he can see on his face is the all-too-prominent scar. They get to the door, and Sojourn turns, breathes out. "Reyes, they didn't ask for McCree to be there."

McCree tightens his grip on Gabriel's arm. "Listen, they want me there." Jesse drawls, voice low. "I'm the only one who understands what he's going through."

"I'm right here," Moira reminds, only slightly irritable. "Until recently, I thought you wanted Gabriel dead."

He sends her an awkward look, blinking, before coughing. "It's complicated." He admits, readily. "We mighta done somethin' last night, that, hm…" He searches for words, fails to.

"McCree has what he gave me." Gabriel finishes, pointing to the mark on his neck. "And it's from me."

"Curious." Moira murmurs, her irritability forgotten in the face of that interesting piece of information. "I'll have to study you two."

"Over my dead body." McCree refuses, voice flat as he turns back to the door, and Gabriel knowingly looks at her.

"You'll study me, Moira, if we get the chance." He allows. "However, we might both be shit out of luck."

"Implying I had some of that to start with." Moira sniffs, looking away as she braced herself.

"You got lucky with Ana." Gabriel reminds, and Moira turns bright red, Sojourn turning at the first thing that actually surprised her. Ashe stands behind, nodding, just as weirded out at the concept.

"We're addressing that later." Sojourn says to Ashe, the other woman lifting her hands up in surrender. "Reyes, alright. Bring McCree with you. Moira…" She hesitates, before gesturing to the door as well. "You too."

Moira grimaces, knowing Amari was likely on the other side of the door, but Reyes takes the next step forward, knowing all too well that he looked every bit of the monster he was to be accused of being.

Jack is sitting at his desk, expression hardened, and Ana sits beside him, only her expression betraying the terror and horror at finally seeing him for what he was. He coughs, and has to wipe his lips of the black sludge eking out of him.

"Commander Morrison," Gabriel starts off on a respectful note, knowing that there was only going to be a downhill spiral from here. Jack already looks like he's fuming, and has been fuming for some time. "Captain Amari."

Moira dips her head as well respectfully, avoiding Amari's gaze entirely.

"McCree," Jack states, harried. "We don't need you here right now."

"On the contrary." Jesse says, airily, unbothered by it all. "You might not. But if you want to get answers out of him y'all might also want me here."

"Implying what?" Jack's voice is flat, expression unreadable. "Lieutenants?"

"McCree appears to be the lynch pin that's keeping him relatively stable," Moira inserts, politely.

"I didn't ask you." Jack looks harder at Ashe. "Where was Commander Reyes, Ashe, and how did they get by unnoticed?"

"McCree informed me he found Gabriel in the quarters they'd been in earlier."

"He'd melted into the bed." Jesse informs where there's a blank, obviously they'd searched there. "Been there. Spat up cotton fibers for a week." He chuckles, voice low, but it doesn't break the tension. Gabriel coughs, and low and behold, strings are suspended in the mess of wasted cells.

Ashe coughs, and continues her report. "I traced McCree to Tracer's private medical quarters, where I found McCree, along with Reyes and Shimada. Reyes was in a compromised state. O'Deorain joined us not too long after Reyes regained consciousness."

"Any resistance?" Ana asks, tense, not looking at Moira either, her gaze focused wholly on Ashe.

"No. They came quietly." Sojourn informs, arms crossed. "But Shimada was gone when I arrived."

Tracer coughs, her form dwarfed by everyone around her. "He left after he and McCree fought. If you need him, I can get him."

"That won't be necessary." Jack sighs, offering a touch of softness to the youngest person there. "Tracer, you can go. Thank you for coming to tell us so quickly. You three- sit. Ashe, Sojourn, keep anyone else who needs us busy."

"Will do, Commander."

Jesse did so almost immediately, rolling his eyes as he looks around the place. "Been in here pretty often, and I gotta say, the décor could use some work."

"While we appreciate assistance, McCree." Ana tersely states. "If we'd like your input, we'll ask for it."

"Got it. I'll shut up." He leans back in the chair, as Moira and Gabriel more reticently settle in for what will likely be a long and painful interrogation.

"You are the Reaper." Jack states, black and white like everything else he's always known. Gabriel sighs, long and hard.

"Yeah. I've been that since the SEP." He folds his arms. "In my office, in the drawer insider my desk drawer, there's a box of correspondences with the DOD." He nods. "While I haven't necessarily agreed with all the orders over the years, I wasn't keen on pissing off the US government."

"Can you prove that they're the ones behind you?" Ana asks, skeptical. Gabriel sighs, black smoke seeping out of him.

"I just said that, yes; I can. I kept records. Moira has access to a few of them as well." He waves a hand. "Gerard said it himself. The Reaper didn't have a distinctive pattern that matched with any terrorist organization's goals."

"Don't bring up Gerard." Jack hisses. "You're Talon now. You're apart of everything his life was against."

Gabriel looks to his clawed hands. "Jack, it really wasn't supposed to be like this."

"Well, how was it supposed to be, Gabriel, because there's not a whole lot standing between you and being in jail for the rest of your life." Jack states the obvious, and Gabriel can't fault him for his anger.

"What I told you yesterday was the truth." He admits, careful. "At least, part of it. I left out the portion where all of this was…instigated, because I got sick." He struggles for words. "I started noticing small things. I was slower, my strength was failing. Then something big happened. I got the flu for the first time in 20 years."

"That should be impossible," Jack states, and Gabriel knows, heavy.

"I thought the same. My powers started to…act up. I started to have…episodes, where I would be smoke for a few seconds, and it only worsened from there." Gabriel shakes his head. "I needed answers. But I had the line of communication with the DOD open, along with the fucks from the crisis. I started asking for help. They couldn't tell me much of anything." He laughs, and not from humor, and then shrugs. "Except that it was bad and only getting worse. Furthermore, the scientists involved in our work were either dead or off the grid. Martha wound up intercepting one of the letters." He lets that sit there. "The one that told us that they didn't only fuck with my somatic cells. Meaning my daughter, conceived after the changes, was almost certainly either a carrier or worse. And she'd just had a son."

"So Martha leaves you." Jack pieces together, and Gabriel nods.

"Yes," He admits, the word heavy. "She was already sick, too. The news was too much for her to bear." He looks to where his wedding band once was. "But I was on borrowed time, and I needed to make things right for my daughter and grandson. Unfortunately, no one in the world was doing the research the SEP did. Until a unique opportunity dropped onto my front desk, where our new hire was spitting fire about someone using her technology for such sick purposes."

"O'Deorain." Jack nods. "Were you involved in Talon at that point in time?" Gabriel shakes his head, and Jack stares at Moira, who seems to realize he's asking her.

"Of course not." Moira mutters, staring at the desk. "While people always have accused me of such things, I hadn't even heard of them until I joined Blackwatch. I was just a researcher, who wrote a paper approved every step of the way by the university I worked with, only to be fired for my results." She sighs. "A fraud and an unethical madwoman. My work then used by the very same people who framed me in a negative light. I have no illusions that this was random, it was done with the express purpose of putting me in Gabriel Reyes' path. He offered me a job, and with little other choice aside from homelessness," She enunciates that word carefully. "I took it."

"So when and why did you two get involved in Talon?" Jack asks, tired of the explanation.

"I was contacted first." Moira admits, freely. "Once Amélie Lacroix had returned to base. She sought me out while I was in great distress over Gabriel's rapidly deteriorating condition. Ashe can vouch for that time frame, too."

"Amélie?" Ana breaks in, and Moira flinches at her tone. "She is dead."

"She isn't." Moira refutes.

"We need more details there." Jack presses, and Moira shifts.

"Following Lacroix's kidnapping, Gabriel came to my office, harried and panicked in a way uncharacteristic of himself." She murmurs. "He informed me that he was banned from assisting in the investigation due to our conduct in Venice and Blackwatch's continued suspension." She pauses, before speaking. "And then he collapsed in a black, writhing mass." Moira shakes her head. "As he's my only ally, this naturally caused issues."

"You should have taken him to the medical bay." Jack disagrees, but Ana turns to him carefully.

"But what would have happened? Angela doesn't particularly find Moira to be morally upstanding. We could have easily accused her of hurting Gabriel on purpose."

"I was the one treating him." Moira uneasily continues when there are no further interruptions, and so she looks to Gabriel. "He asked that I keep it all top secret. And if I just had access to our treatments, I would have been able to do so. But he'd been off his treatments sine Venice." She clasps her hands.

Moira swallows. "A week and a half after Gabriel fell ill, Amélie was returned to us. I didn't particularly pay attention, as I was focused on trying to fix Gabriel. After all, though he was stable, we weren't making any progress. The window Ashe gave me before I would have to go to Dr. Ziegler was closing rapidly. I was in Gabriel's office, and through the unfortunate link we'd established to one another, I found a document."

Jack cuts her off there. "Link?"

Moira shifts in her chair again, deciding how to proceed, and then reluctantly removes her glove, showing off the purpling skin. "When I was treating Gabriel, I was sure to test it on myself as well. We were in this boat together. Unfortunately, what I now know is that we have…inexplicably, become linked to one another."

She turns to Ana, and though words escape her for a moment, she finds them again in short order. "That first night we met. You asked who I punched." She pauses, tense. "In reality, I was thinking about how little progress we'd made, and how frustrated I was, and the arm lashed out of its own accord. It punched the wall. Gabriel had lashed out through it." She then swallows. "But I'll come back to that later. Gabriel showed me a document he'd hidden away in his office that he'd written to someone, about a cancelled mission in light of the Venice incident. That was how I discovered that Gabriel Reyes was the Reaper, working for the US government. It was also how I found the documents relating to his condition, and his prior contact with someone named Dr. Howell. That was how I determined that…well; they weren't ever planning on helping him. They were planning on using him until the man no longer functioned, the way he had been on that bed in my office."

Moira lets that settle, waiting to see if there was any interjection, before she continues. "I found his mask, and unintentionally saw the email Lindholm had sent to you three and Dr. Ziegler. It gave me an idea. I reprogrammed the nanomachines in my Blackwatch uniform's tank, and I used them to stabilize Gabriel's condition."

"I had him in a much better state within the week. At least he could move. Granted, it was the product of nanomachines that I programmed to access his surface level brain activity, but it was progress."

"You did what," Jack asks, stunned, and Gabriel nods sheepishly.

"In her defense, I was comatose, and also in her defense, I'm not that anymore." He rubs his hands on his thighs. "That was the month I avoided you both. Sorry. Moira figured that…uh, you'd be able to tell something was off."

"I named it Reaper, given that had been his covert identity, and given that this wasn't Gabriel." She sighs, and looks down. "I left him to go steal some biotics, as it was hungry, and had finished off any remaining biotics in my suit. Quite the frightening image, really, but that was when Amélie Lacroix reached out to me. She handed me a piece of paper with a phone number on it, along with a message about putting my talents to the test. That was unfortunately also when Reaper demonstrated to me that he had uninhibited access to my mental sanctum, and I passed out in shock. When I woke up next, Ashe was at my door, telling me that Gérard Lacroix was dead, and Amélie was gone."

"And at that point, Gabriel was…" Jack elaborates, and Moira nods.

"Unavailable. Only a shell of what he was before. It was like him, but also missing various pieces of his personality. It enjoyed picking at my brains to establish itself, but that just made it more like me and less like Reyes." She closes her eyes. "I had no allies. Ashe was tenuous at best, and really she wanted to bring him to Angela, but if I just had the funds, I could have fixed him. While Ana and I had begun talking, it wasn't like I could trust her to understand my choices, not without Reyes to vouch for me that he'd consented to this. So I called the number."

"Who was on the other end?" Ana asks, tense, and Moira doesn't meet her eyes.

"At the time, I hadn't known specifics beyond that it was Talon. I now know it was Maximilien. He asked that I come to Monaco. Offered a years salary for the trip alone, and 3 years if they liked what they saw." She turns to Gabriel. "Which was more than enough to set up a lab off base, and get him back to what he was. I tried threatening to report them, saying how bold it was for them to contact me, someone so close to Reyes, so soon after the murder of his close friend." She shakes her head, laughs. "But of course, they tell me that I shouldn't do that, given how easy it'd be to paint me as the bad one, yet again."

"So I go." She admits, easily. "4 years salary was a dream job, exactly what I needed to get started again. That was when Reaper and I took that vacation to Monaco. I donned his costume as the Reaper because I wanted to at least attempt to conceal his identity, but, of course, they saw straight away who was beneath the mask. They wrongly assumed I'd brainwashed him, when in actuality I was working to wake him back up from where he'd nearly died. From there, Akande, Maximilien and Sanjay Korpal from Vishkar gave me an assignment, where I had 'my' Reaper kill someone on their behalf, their former scientist who'd stolen my work. We agree, we do some more, smaller things, and I suddenly can begin treatment on Gabriel again. The moment we get back, I discover Ashe and Amari arguing about where Reyes has gone, and once Amari is placated, I ask Ashe to help me break into Dr. Ziegler's lab. I needed access to her MRI machine. Midway through the brain scan, checking for…damage," She coughs, awkward, "Gabriel Reyes wakes up, properly. Bangs his head inside the MRI machine as well, asks where the hell he is, then why he's in Angela's office."

"I was pretty confused," Gabriel inserts, picking up for her, allowing Moira to take a drink of water, the woman sitting there nervously. "We go back to her quarters, and talk about what all happened in the month I was out of commission. She comes clean fairly quickly about having gone to Talon, but, well, I knew she wasn't lying to me about anything. I was in her head. I could feel her feelings. Then she tells me that Amélie killed Gerard, and I about lose it."

"Amélie killed Gérard?" Jack states, shocked, and both of them nod. Ana looks sick in her chair, "Is she alive?" Jack asks, reeling from the news.

"She is, in the sense her heart is beating." Gabriel explains. "I've not worked with her yet, but Moira has. She's… she's really just a broken doll. The lights are on but nobody's home."

"I wasn't contacted again about work until the London incident, even." Moira mutters, arms crossed tight across her middle. "We both figured out that Talon was invariably behind Null Sector, but…all the same, we couldn't go to anyone about it, because how did we know that?" She rubs her fingers nervously into the fabric of her top. "But that was 4 months ago, and I was the only one working for them. 3 months ago, Gabriel joined Talon fully, rather than just as my bodyguard. In spite of the fact that…most of the work is…less than appealing, there have been bright spots."

"Making sure Amélie is alright." Gabriel agrees, carefully. "Having intel on Null Sector for Overwatch."

"Then there's the discovery of Dr. Siebren De Kuiper, currently imprisoned in the Netherlands." Moira adds, nodding a bit stronger. "I know that we were planning on breaking him out."

"It wasn't like we _wanted_ to work for Talon, Jack." He rubs his head. "Hell, I just…I didn't know where to even begin telling you any of this." Gabriel allows himself to admit. "I didn't want to… make any of it pin back to you. I asked Moira if we were in too deep, though, because, fuck, time started to…flow wrong." Jesse shifts at that, and he knows that the younger man is well aware of what that was.

Moira looks to him pityingly. "That would be Talon's handiwork. I…did try, or at least, thought about coming clean before things started to slide any further." She listlessly leans back. "Because, as Gabriel pointed out, I also noticed my time moving strangely, and things happening in ways that disturbed me, but also didn't." She closes her eyes. "But of course, I was mistaken. I was a mistake."

Ana flinches at that, placing that on a timeline easily.

Moira sits tall, "But life moves on without me. I have little choice, as the walls are crawling with traitors. And those who aren't traitors have little reason to trust me."

"Which brought us here." Gabriel murmurs, rubbing his arms, nerves growing at how silent Jack was. "Maximilien gave Moira word about an enhanced person in Deadlock they wanted to recruit. I didn't want to involve you, despite Moira insisting I needed healthy enhanced blood. So I go get him, and surprise, it's the kid I thought I'd killed in Deadlock, over a decade ago."

"And now all the pieces have fallen into place." Moira finishes, sitting backwards, ready for judgment.

"This is the last question I'll ask you two before we shelve you for later questioning." Jack leans on his desk, expression dark. "What is Talon's plan for Overwatch?"

Moira looks helpless, understanding that even having made their best case; there was no trust here; no love for them, the butcher. She lets Gabriel answer first, turning to him carefully.

"They want to destroy it." Gabriel explains, voice rough.

"That's what the bomb is for." Moira echoes, quiet. "Another Rome, but this one to end Overwatch's story." She looks to her hands. "Amari should watch her head. Lacroix is competitive and knows her duty well. Meanwhile, well, Morrison, are you ready for your dominos to crash down before you?"

Jack holds up a hand, and Moira nods, closing her eyes as she waits for judgment.

Gabriel isn't as ready as her. "Jack, even if I wasn't apart of them, I think what they have in motion is going to be impossible to stop." His head goes grey-fuzzy, but he's broken everything else today. He'd give Jack anything he could to fix this. Fix them.

"That's enough from you," Jack growls, and Gabriel, though he feels everything in him riot against speaking, he has to, so much had come out and Jack, his sunshine through it all, the man he hated and loved, deserved to come out okay.

"Jack, Petras _is_ Talon." Gabriel coughs; form shuddering as it struggles against him, melting as Jesse held him firm, the static in his ears suddenly very loud.

"Not Talon, Gabriel." Moira disagrees, her hand shaking with his fraught energy. "Worse." She hisses as her good hand grabs her head, the woman finally losing her calm façade as she struggles through her next words. "Deeper than Talon. Older than Overwatch, which has not yet outlasted it's use. The puppet master, and we're all on _strings_."

It's just as well that in that next moment, it's as though hers are cut, and her body goes limp in her chair, eyes half-closed as her arms dangle and her head hangs forward.

Gabriel can feel darkness creeping at the edge of his vision as Ana and Jack look at her form, alarm growing, and he grins black blood from too-sharp teeth. "Figures there'd be mental harnesses in place," He rasps, feeling himself fall backwards into Jesse's waiting desert heat as his light was snuffed out.

XXXXX

Of all the things Jack had expected of this meeting, he hadn't fathomed that it'd end with Dr. O'Deorain fainting and Gabriel Reyes melting into Jesse McCree. The younger man caught him easily, the two of them two shadows that laid one on top of the other with a familiarity that felt off.

McCree shifts the man from side to side, before he looks at Jack with unease; a voyeur who knew things few did.

"Well, that was a pile of unfortunate overture," McCree says, drawling as Ana attempts to find her own words again, Jack in the same boat as her. McCree grabs Moira as well, throwing her over one shoulder, yanking Gabriel over the other. "But I can't help that, and y'all sound like y'all have some discussion to be having, and I figure I should leave y'all to it."

"Why are you taking them?" Ana manages to get out, and Jesse actually pauses to think on that.

"They need to come down from that." Jesse smoothly states, shrugging. "I was gonna shove them in the isolation tank, or…well, I don't know." He shifts on his feet. "But you two need to talk about that. 'Bout them. They'll prolly be out a while. And even when they do wake back up…" He shrugs, all-too-knowing about the issue, "They won't be all there at first. At least, I wouldn't be all there in their shoes." He tilts his head. "Plus, no one else can control Gabriel like I could. I assume that since Moira's the same as him, I could at least give her a run for her money."

"They shouldn't be going anywhere but custody." Jack reminds, weary, now that Gabriel was down and Moira was silenced. "But Petras is part of the problem."

"If they're to be believed," Jesse remarks, sitting back down, putting Moira down on the floor, followed by Gabriel. "Which, hey, by all means, if you do believe them, I was just stuck in the room with y'all."

He folds his arms, guarding himself as he watches Ana and Jack uneasily. It's easy to see why Ana is so uncomfortable- Jesse acts too much like Ashe, the two of them peas in a pod, despite the thousands of miles separating them for a decade.

"Why are you helping Gabriel, if you don't believe them?" Ana thinks to ask, and McCree tenses, hesitating for a long second, orange eye flashing at Jack, before he leans back, contemplative.

"I've wondered that a lot myself." McCree admits. "When he first showed his ugly mug, I wanted him dead. A bullet in his head. Maybe I'd just pull out the eye of his I still have. A reminder of what he did that he has to live with as much as I live with what he did." He shifts in his seat. "I marked him outta pettiness. S' prolly what spurs on the worst of the protective feelings." He makes a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. "Especially when I was met with the scent of the lover I thought I'd failed. God. I was tricked by my own damn nose." He laughs, looking at his hands. "Damnit. Now we're stuck, too."

"Mark, scent, control, McCree; we are at a bit of a loss as to what you mean." Jack decides to cut to the chase. "What did they do to you?"

McCree looks at him like he was a foreign object, gaze empty. "It was one person." Jesse disagrees, voice low. "Just one- a man. He was hired to make more, but we all were failures. Never good enough, not the right _fit_." Ana takes in a sharp breath, making a connection that Jack doesn't. "I was a failure." He laughs again, the sound broken. "And I was dumped with all the other corpses in Albuquerque. But I lived. I don't- it's not like he told me what I was for. I figured it out. I was always good at that." He breathes, the sound heavy. "But… Someone wanted more folks like you." He begins, careful. "Needed you two vulnerable to someone to catch y'all. So they tried to make your better."

"Gabriel said they altered more than his somatic cells. That means they could make…"

Ana looks viscerally ill, and Jack feels the same.

Jesse shrugs. "I mean; I figured that out second I put my fangs into another person." He _sounds_ bored, but Jack can see the way his fingers move on his jeans, tense. "But we were _all_ failures, far as I could tell. Maybe he was just upset I couldn't breed with y'all. There were women's bodies there too." He lets out a shuddering breath.

"Whoever it was- probably didn't like the fact the experiments didn't fix your arm." Jack tries to ease him, making Jesse look at him owlishly. He falters for a second, before swallowing. "It…_fixed_ a lot of things about people. Sight, notably, for most, as it was the military. But there were rumors about it curing other things."

"But my arm stayed paralyzed." Jesse finishes in understanding, looking to the empty space between Jack and Ana. "I mean, I knew I was a failure, but…somethin' so small? Somethin' so easily rectified?" He breathes in, then out again. "_Asshole_."

"He was an asshole for a lot of things," Ana dryly remarks, regaining her composure. "Namely, the amount of people he did kill."

Jack finally has the light bulb go off in his head. "Wait- I remember this story." He breathes. "It's from over a decade ago, but there was news of a serial killer in the Southwest leaving something like a hundred people dead. News assumed it was some Deadlock remnant."

Jesse shakes his head, and swallows. "None I can remember were science-y types." He tentatively puts forward. "While I do remember the bust, G- Reyes wasn't too far off to suggest I have some memory loss. I don't even remember the man's face. Barely remember Ashe. I remember…a lot of pain, and a lot of time spent on a bed, unable to move, unable to breathe." He rubs his eye, thoughtful. "Guess he thought I was brain dead. Or close enough that he didn't think to end me. Thought I'd die when left alone."

"But you made it out." Ana finishes, voice heavy, equally contemplative with the information given. "And you can, in fact, control them."

Jesse shrugs. "It's not like Gabe's my puppet now." He explains, quiet. "At its core, all it does is make sure that he can't kill me, and I can't kill him. I am just…it emulates closeness, familiarity where there should be none." He goes quiet. "Enhances it if there is something already there." He touches the mark on his own neck, and Jack feels a terrified shock down his back as his teeth press against his lip in response. "The bite itself can be a helluva aphrodisiac in the right circumstances. But I can't make him do something he doesn't want. Unfortunately for us though, someone else made him empty. Stripped him down to nothing. The mark gave him something to cling to- someone to cling to. Made it, uh, a bit more potent, I reckon."

Jack still doesn't know what to say, but he's grateful that Ana does.

"How did you recognize Gabriel, anyways?" She presses. "Especially behind a mask."

Jesse freezes, and his eye flashes orange, his gaze going far away again. "I," He struggles for words, lips moving carefully. "I just. I smelled him. But," He seems to find where Ana had picked up the problem, and his vision clears, and refocuses on her. "But I wasn't enhanced before."

"So how did you know it?" Jack voice is far away, but he's too busy with his mind reeling as he realizes Ana's point, and his stomach sinks with a heavy thought.

Someone in the program had samples of Jack and Gabriel. Someone had been close to them, had been able to feed that information to Jesse McCree all those years ago.

O'Deorain had madly rambled about dominos, and how everything was planned out and had backup plans in case one piece didn't want to play nicely.

Whoever had made Jesse McCree had failed, but that didn't mean that the mission to control them was out entirely.

Gabriel standing vacantly outside his office door in the video footage, unable to follow whatever order he'd been given.

The only unknown in all of this was McCree. He'd been left; abandoned. A failure.

A blind spot for whoever was doing this, not just Talon either.

Jack had wanted nothing more than to kick him out, but all he could see now were reasons to keep him exactly where they had him.

"Ana." Jack says, certainty growing in him as he sees a path forward. "Go tell Ashe that McCree's not going anywhere." He stands, and Ana is surprised, but seems truly relieved. "McCree, help me transfer these two to Dr. Ziegler's clinic. You're right- we need time to…discuss things, and they need to recover."

McCree shifts again, not necessarily trusting, but he stands, letting Jack take Moira from him, Ana shifting guiltily in the background as she vanishes out the door.

"No one can know that we know they're Talon, McCree." He intones, quietly. "If the devils are inside the walls, we'll have to be smarter than them to win this."

McCree takes a moment, but he nods regardless, and falls in behind Jack Morrison, steps even and certain as the path is lit once more and the way is clear.


End file.
